Ribose in space

Abstract

By exposing methanol, water, and ammonia—simple compounds found in the ice of comets—to conditions found in outer space—ultraviolet radiation and icy cold temperatures—researchers have formed a diversity of organic molecules in the lab. One of these molecules, the five-carbon sugar ribose, typically appears in the backbone of ribonucleic acid, a candidate for the first self-replicating genetic material used by life on Earth, explains Uwe Meierhenrich, a physical chemist at the University of Nice, who led the research (Science 2016, DOI: 10.1126/science.aad8137). If Meierhenrich’s lab model of interstellar ice holds true in outer space, the new results support the theory that organic material required to seed life on Earth could have come from a series of comet collisions. “When you think of the origin of life on Earth, it’s very intriguing that sugars, particularly those that form an essential part of the RNA backbone, might be right there on small icy