All 5 DNA And RNA Building Blocks Found In Asteroid Ryugu Samples. Here's What It Means

Scientists have discovered all five nucleobases that make up DNA and RNA in samples collected from the asteroid Ryugu. This finding suggests that the building blocks of life are widespread in the solar system.

In 2014, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Hayabusa-2 spacecraft was blasted off to land on Ryugu, a 900-meter-wide asteroid. It collected samples and returned to Earth in 2020. Three years later, scientists confirmed that these samples contained uracil, which is one of the four bases that make up RNA.

Now, the scientists on Monday revealed the presence of adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C) and thymine (T) as well, which are the fundamental components of genetic material.

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The findings of the study were published in Nature Astronomy, with the study's lead author, Toshiki Koga, telling AFP that the presence of nucleobases "does not mean that life existed on Ryugu".

"Instead, their presence indicates that primitive asteroids could produce and preserve molecules that are important for the chemistry related to the origin of life," added the biochemist from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology.

The presence of these nucleobases on Ryugu and other asteroids like Bennu implies that the raw materials for life are not unique to our planet.

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"Organic molecules delivered from extraterrestrial materials may have played a key role in supplying building blocks for life on Earth," researchers wrote in the study.

According to the study, the discovery also "demonstrates their widespread presence throughout the solar system and reinforces the hypothesis that carbonaceous asteroids contributed to the prebiotic chemical inventory of early Earth."

The discovery supports the theory that asteroids played a role in kick-starting life on Earth by delivering essential ingredients. It also raises questions about the possibility of life existing elsewhere in the solar system.

Organic molecules delivered from extraterrestrial materials may have played a key role in supplying building blocks for life on Earth.