The building blocks of life may have come from space.
Meteorite life
Scientists have discovered the building blocks of DNA in meteorites that fell in North America and Australia, Reuters reports, suggesting that the main ingredients for life may have come from space.
So far, scientists have discovered three of the five main chemicals that make up DNA and RNA. But in a new study published in the journal Nature Communications, a team of researchers led by Yasuhiro Oba, an astrochemist at Hokkaido University in Japan, details his latest discovery: the two missing pieces of the puzzle.
The two nucleobases, purine and pyrimidine, were found in meteorites that fell in Canada, the United States and Australia between 1950 and 2000.
Research can change the way we understand the early processes that allowed life to form on our planet shortly after the formation of the solar system.
“This study shows that a variety of meteorite nucleobases can serve as building blocks of early Earth’s DNA and RNA,” the study said.
Lots to learn
While DNA and RNA technically contain enough information to lead to the formation of living organisms, we still do not have a clear picture of how life first formed billions of years ago.
“We still have a lot to learn about the chemical steps that led to life on Earth, the first self-replicating system,” Danny Glavin, a NASA scientist and co-author of the study, told Reuters. “This study certainly adds to the list of chemical compounds that would be present in the early prebiotics of the Earth. [existing before the emergence of life] soup. ”
Components other than the five nucleobases are also required for the formation of life, including amino acids, sugars and fatty acids. But still, the discovery is a compelling new clue.
“Current results may not directly elucidate the origins of life on Earth,” Oba told Reuters, “but I believe they can improve our understanding of the inventory of organic molecules on early Earth before life.”
READ MORE: All 5 building blocks of DNA, RNA found in meteorites from Canada, USA, Australia [Reuters]
More about life: Scientists claim to have recreated the first life on Earth
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