Scientists have reported finding the building blocks of DNA and RNA in the asteroid Ryugu

Japanese scientists reported that the samples brought from the asteroid Ryugu contain all the nucleobases necessary for DNA and RNA, including adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine and uracil. This discovery reinforces hypotheses that asteroids could have contributed organic molecules important for the origin of life on Earth. This was reported in the magazine on March 17. Phys.org .

The Ryugu asteroid samples were collected by the Japanese Hayabusa-2 spacecraft in 2020 after a successful expedition to a distance of about 300 million km from Earth. Each of the two delivered portions weighed only 5.4 g, but analysis showed that they contained a complete set of nucleobases that form the basis of DNA and RNA. Earlier in 2023, researchers identified uracil, one of the four RNA bases, in the samples. The new study confirmed the presence of all five canonical nucleobases, including adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine, and uracil.

The study's lead author, biochemist Toshiki Koga, emphasized that this does not indicate the existence of life on Ryugu. Instead, the finding indicates that primitive asteroids could synthesize and preserve molecules important for chemistry related to the origin of life.

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Of particular interest was the correlation between the concentrations of nucleobases and ammonia in the samples, which may indicate a previously unknown path of their formation in the materials of the early Solar system. This confirms the assumption that carbonaceous asteroids could contribute to the formation of prebiotic chemistry on Earth.

Experts note that the finding, together with previous data from the Bennu asteroid, allows for a better understanding of which organic materials can form under conditions of prebiotic synthesis in the universe. According to astrobiologist Cesar Menor Salvan, this does not mean that life originated in space, but it opens up a clear understanding of the chemical capabilities of asteroids. The new data helps to reconstruct the early stages of the chemistry of the Solar system and provide valuable clues about the mechanisms of formation of molecules necessary for the emergence of life on Earth.

In the magazine Phys.org Earlier it was reported that an international group of astronomers has discovered one of the most primitive stars in terms of chemical composition — a second-generation object formed immediately after the first stars of the universe. The discovery in the Pictor II dwarf galaxy allows us to directly study the processes of early formation of chemical elements.

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