Found ‘everything that makes up life’ in meteorites

An asteroid – Illustration: DAILYADVENT

In the latest study just published, American and Japanese scientists say they have found enough of the main components that make up DNA and RNA in meteorites.

DNA and RNA are nucleic acids that make up all known life on Earth. They consist of five major structural elements called nucleobases.

The five most common nucleobases are cytosine, guanine, adenine, thymine, and uracil, where thymine is found only in DNA and uracil is present in RNA only.

Scientists have worked hard to find 5 types This nucleobase in the meteorite samples obtained, however they Only 3 nucleobases have been identified: guanine, adenine, and uracil.

According to Radio Russia Today (RT) on May 1, tmagazine Nature Communications Recently, a research team consisting of scientists from the US and Japan led by associate professor Yasuhiro Oba of Hokkaido University (Japan) announced that they have identified the remaining 2 nucleobases, cytosine and thymine, on 3 meteorites. down in Australia, USA and Canada.

They argue that the two nucleobases are difficult to detect due to their “fragile” structure, and that they may have quickly disappeared in previous experiments when meteorite samples were placed in hot solutions.

Nucleobases themselves are not life, but organic chemical compounds are seen as “heralds” of life existing in the form of DNA. The appearance of these compounds could be the result of chemical reactions that took place on space-traveling asteroids, as new research has shown.