Scientists examining samples returned from asteroid Bennu found ribose and glucose inside — and with phosphate and every RNA nucleobase already detected in the same asteroid material, every chemical c
Scientists have discovered essential biological sugars, including ribose and glucose, in samples returned from the asteroid Bennu. These findings suggest that the fundamental chemical building blocks for RNA could have originated and been preserved in space before life existed on Earth.
Why it matters
This discovery provides critical evidence for the theory of panspermia and helps explain how the raw materials for life may have been delivered to early Earth.
The Bennu sample is becoming less like a single asteroid story and more like a chemistry inventory from the early solar system.
By Space Daily Editorial Team · Editorial process
The Bennu sample is becoming less like a single asteroid story and more like a chemistry inventory from the early solar system. The latest result is simple to state, but easy to overread: scientists found ribose and glucose in material returned from Bennu, and ribose is the sugar used in RNA.
In a Nature Geoscience paper led by Yoshihiro Furukawa of Tohoku University , researchers analysed pristine material collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission and reported several bio-essential sugars, including ribose, glucose, lyxose, xylose, arabinose and galactose. The same paper notes that earlier Bennu work had already found canonical nucleobases and phosphate, meaning all the chemical components needed to form RNA were present in Bennu material.
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