A planetary science paper published in the British journal “Nature Communications” on the 26th pointed out that pyrimidine bases, which are essential for the composition of DNA and RNA, may have been brought to Earth by carbon-rich meteorites. The team’s new analysis has uncovered the last two units of DNA and RNA information that had never been found in meteorite samples before. While DNA is unlikely to have formed in meteorites, the findings suggest that these genetic parts could be used for transmission and may have contributed to the development of molecules for life on early Earth, the researchers said.
The scientific community has different views on the origin of life on Earth, and scientists have previously found evidence of the existence of elements important to life in primitive meteorites, indicating that meteorites could carry organic molecules of life to the early Earth.
The composition of DNA and RNA is inseparable from two types of chemical components, also known as bases. These two types of chemical constituents are pyrimidine and purine, where pyrimidine includes cytosine, uracil, and thymine, and purine includes guanine and adenine. So far, only purine bases and uracil have been found in meteorites. However, the researchers found pyrimidines in experiments simulating conditions in the interstellar medium (the space between stars), leading some to speculate that they may have arrived on Earth via meteorites.
This time, Yasuhiro Oba, a scientist at Hokkaido University in Japan, and his colleagues used a small-scale quantitative advanced analysis technology optimized for bases to analyze three carbon-rich meteorites: Murchison, Murray and Tagish. Lake Meteorite. In addition to compounds previously detected in meteorites, such as guanine, adenine, and uracil, the researchers also discovered, for the first time, parts-per-billion concentrations of various pyrimidine bases, such as cytosine and thymine. These compounds were present in concentrations similar to those predicted by experiments simulating conditions before the formation of the solar system.
The research team believes that the latest results show that such compounds may have been produced by photochemical reactions in the interstellar medium, and then incorporated into asteroids during the formation of the solar system. These compounds eventually arrived on Earth via meteorites, and may have played a role in the genetic function of the emergence of early life.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings