EXAMINATION OF METEORITE SUGGESTS 
EXTRATERRESTRIAL HAND IN ORIGIN OF LIFE ON EARTH

        CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Sept. 16 -- Geochemists from the
universities of Virginia and Oklahoma who examined a meteorite that
fell in Australia in 1969 have found evidence bolstering a theory that
the origin of life on Earth may have been shaped by extraterrestrial
influences.
        Writing in the Sept.18 issue of the prestigious British
journal Nature, University of Oklahoma professor Michael H. Engel and
University of Virginia professor Stephen A. Macko present new
supporting evidence that extraterrestrial material which bombarded our
planet more than 4 billion years ago contained amino acids with
characteristics similar to those observed in all living systems on
Earth.
        Engel had published similar findings in 1982, but questions
arose as to whether the meteorite carried the amino acids with it or
if it had been "contaminated" by earthly influences after it landed.
However, using a state-of-the-art lab at the University of Virginia,
Engel and Macko found
that the amino acids on the meteorite contained a much greater
concentration of a particular nitrogen isotope than naturally occurs
on Earth, confirming the extraterrestrial origin of the amino acids.
        "This has great importance to understanding the origin of the
chemical precursors to life," said Macko, a professor in U.Va.'s
environmental sciences department.
        Most amino acids - the building blocks of life - come in two
types: "left-handed" (L) and "right-handed" (D). Living systems must
be based on only one of those types. On Earth, the left handed amino
acids were selected.
        Engel and Macko's work supports one theory of how the
left-handed amino acids came to dominate. The non-biological synthesis
of amino acids on the very early Earth is assumed to have 
OVER
resulted in the formation of L- and D-type molecules in equal
quantities. But organic compounds, including amino acids, are also
known to have been delivered by comet and meteorite impacts - in large
quantities at the time of life's origins on Earth, and in smaller
quantities even today.
        The Murchison meteorite which landed in Australia in 1969 was
found to be rich in amino acids, and Engel's earlier work found that
they were predominately of the left-handed variety. At the time, this
was touted as evidence that extraterrestrial material may have tipped
the balance of
amino acids on Earth toward the left-handed variety during the
critical window for life's origin, about 4 billion years ago.
        But questions arose as to the source of the material on the
Murchison meteorite, including the possibility of contamination by
earthly biological material during or after impact.
        Engel and Macko's current study may put those doubts to rest,
confirming that the excess of L-type amino acids on the Murchison
meteorite can indeed be traced to extraterrestrial origins. Using
Macko's lab at U.Va. to measure the nitrogen isotopes in the Murchison
amino acids, they
became the first in the world to measure amounts of "heavy" nitrogen
(nitrogen-15) on extraterrestrial objects that are clearly in excess
of that observed for amino acids in living systems on Earth today.
        "This is one of the unique facilities in the world for doing
this," said Macko, who said there are only a handful of other labs
which have the capability of measuring levels of nitrogen-15 and an
isotope of carbon, carbon-13, on individual compounds.
###
September 15, 1997

        For more information, contact Stephen A. Macko at (804)
924-7761 or via e-mail at sam8f@virginia.edu; or Michael Engel at
(405) 325-4435 or via e-mail at ab1635@uokmvsa.backbone.uoknor.edu.
Television reporters may contact the U.Va. TV News Office at (804)
924-7550.
        
       Please note that Engel and Macko will be out of the country for
a conference in late September.  From Sept. 21-26, Macko may be
reached in the Netherlands at the Hotel Bergere in Maastricht, phone
43-325-1651.  On Sept. 20, Engel will be at the Ramada Hotel Gatwick
outside of London, phone 44-1293 820-169.  From Sept. 21-26, Engel may
be reached at Barbizon Maastricht, phone 43-383-8281.