A production of amino acids under possible primitive Earth conditions

Abstract

ties of the comiipounds manometrically (5). In the other, the material is applied to the paper along 8 cm of the base line rather than as a spot and, after resolu-tion, areas 8 x 5 cm containing the various compounds are cut from the paper and rolled in shell vials. Ten anesthetized houseflies are then introduced into each vial, and the toxicity of the compounds is character-ized by rate of knockdown and 24-hr mlortality. The paper chromatographic method is useful in studying the metabolism of phosphorus insecticides in plants, mamimals, and insects. With it, for example, we have been able to demonstrate the conversion of parathion and its methyl analog to. the corresponding phosphates by an enzyme system found in Periplaneta americana (L.) (2). Further studies are in progress. The method has also been of value in studying the action of heat on purified parathion-and methyl para-thion and in isolating the compounds formed and in studying their biological properties (1)