Blueprint for Life May Have Been Generated in Asteroids
In the new analysis, scientists have just found the last two of the five informational units of DNA and RNA that had yet to be discovered in samples from meteorites
The discovery, by NASA researchers and team, adds to evidence that chemical reactions in asteroids can produce some of the building blocks of life.
All DNA and RNA, which contains the instructions to build and operate every living being on Earth, contains five informational components, called nucleobases.
Until now, scientists had only found three of the five. However, a recent analysis by a team in Japan, identified the final two nucleobases that had eluded scientists before
We now have evidence that the complete set of nucleobases used in life today could have been available on Earth when life emerged. - Danny Glavin, a co-author of the paper at NASA
Conceptual image of meteoroids delivering nucleobases to ancient Earth. The nucleobases are represented by structural diagrams with hydrogen atoms as white spheres, carbon as black, nitrogen as blue and oxygen as red.