Chiral discrimination of amino acids in meteorite and desert soil extracts via single-molecule nanogap conductance
11 affiliations
- 1SANKEN, Osaka University, Ibaraki, Osaka, Japan.
- 2Artificial Intelligence Research Center, SANKEN, Osaka University, Ibaraki, Osaka, Japan.
- 3School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA.
- 4Solar System Exploration Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA.
- 5Department of Physics, Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, USA.
- 6Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology (CRESST), Greenbelt, MD, USA.
- 7Department of Chemistry, The University of Chicago, 5735 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA.
- 8MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
- 9School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA. [email protected].
- 10Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA. [email protected].
- 11SANKEN, Osaka University, Ibaraki, Osaka, Japan. [email protected].
Abstract
Life on Earth uses L-amino acids and D-sugars, whereas abiotic processes produce equal abundances of both enantiomers. Detecting enantiomeric excess among molecules of biological interest has therefore been proposed as a potential biosignature for life beyond Earth. However, robust electrical methods for determining the L/D ratios of amino acids and sugars at low concentrations, particularly in chemically complex samples, remain limited. Here we show that quantum tunneling currents electrically distinguish individual L- and D-amino acids and quantify their ratios at the single-molecule level without optical measurements or chiral recognition molecules. Individual enantiomers are distinguished with over 80% accuracy, and a blind test of 39 amino acids identifies both molecular identity and chirality with >50% accuracy, well above random chance. Mixtures containing four amino acids with different chiral compositions are quantified with >66% accuracy. Murchison meteorite and Atacama Desert extracts are analyzed using a targeted panel of 11 amino acids. Confidence-based filtering distinguishes high-confidence target assignments from low-confidence events, and the resulting compositions capture major compositional features observed by LC-MS while highlighting the effects of background and low-abundance signals. These results establish a targeted single-molecule electrical approach for chiral amino acid analysis and provide a foundation for future applications to study chemically complex samples, including those relevant to astrobiological research.
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BibTeX
@article{ohshiro2026chiral,
title = {{Chiral discrimination of amino acids in meteorite and desert soil extracts via single-molecule nanogap conductance}},
author = {Takahito Ohshiro and Yuki Komoto and Takayuki Takaai and Takeshi Yoshida and Takashi Washio and José L Ramírez-Colón and Hannah L Mclain and Daniel Duzdevich and Maria T Zuber and Christopher E Carr and Masateru Taniguchi},
journal = {Nature Communications},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-77947-6},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-77947-6},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Chiral discrimination of amino acids in meteorite and desert soil extracts via single-molecule nanogap conductance
AU - Takahito Ohshiro
AU - Yuki Komoto
AU - Takayuki Takaai
AU - Takeshi Yoshida
AU - Takashi Washio
AU - José L Ramírez-Colón
AU - Hannah L Mclain
AU - Daniel Duzdevich
AU - Maria T Zuber
AU - Christopher E Carr
AU - Masateru Taniguchi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/05
JO - Nature Communications
DO - 10.1038/s41467-026-77947-6
UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-77947-6
AB - Life on Earth uses L-amino acids and D-sugars, whereas abiotic processes produce equal abundances of both enantiomers. Detecting enantiomeric excess among molecules of biological interest has therefore been proposed as a potential biosignature for life beyond Earth. However, robust electrical methods for determining the L/D ratios of amino acids and sugars at low concentrations, particularly in chemically complex samples, remain limited. Here we show that quantum tunneling currents electrically distinguish individual L- and D-amino acids and quantify their ratios at the single-molecule level without optical measurements or chiral recognition molecules. Individual enantiomers are distinguished with over 80% accuracy, and a blind test of 39 amino acids identifies both molecular identity and chirality with >50% accuracy, well above random chance. Mixtures containing four amino acids with different chiral compositions are quantified with >66% accuracy. Murchison meteorite and Atacama Desert extracts are analyzed using a targeted panel of 11 amino acids. Confidence-based filtering distinguishes high-confidence target assignments from low-confidence events, and the resulting compositions capture major compositional features observed by LC-MS while highlighting the effects of background and low-abundance signals. These results establish a targeted single-molecule electrical approach for chiral amino acid analysis and provide a foundation for future applications to study chemically complex samples, including those relevant to astrobiological research.
SN - 2041-1723
ER -