All five letters of life's genetic code found in ancient asteroid
Japanese researchers found adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine and uracil in fairly pristine samples from asteroid Ryugu.
Nucleobases are found in DNA and RNA: they are life's genetic alphabet. A new study confirms all five now appear in material returned by Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft from asteroid Ryugu.
The asteroid is about 4.5 billion years old. The Murchison meteorite fell in Australia in 1969 and also yielded nucleobases.
This mirrors findings from meteorites that landed on Earth. The discovery suggests life's core chemistry was already forming in space before it reached Earth.
If asteroids delivered these molecules to the young planet, it rewrites the story of life's origins.
- 5.4 grams
- Sample mass
- 4.5 billion years old
- Ryugu age
- 2020
- Hayabusa2 return
Why it mattersIf life's essential chemicals formed in space and traveled here by asteroid, we need to rethink where and how life began.
AustraliaAustralia's Murchison meteorite, which fell in 1969 and is held in Australian labs, contains the same molecules and now connects to this breakthrough discovery.
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