This discovery provides the basis for the theory known as “panspermia”, according to which life on Earth was “seeded” from space.
Could an asteroid have brought life to Earth? Japanese scientists have discovered uracil, one of the components of RNA, in a 10 milligram sample on asteroid Ryugu, according to their study published on Tuesday, March 21. Nature (in English).
Previous analysis of fragments of this asteroid has already confirmed, Theory of extraterrestrial origin of water. While DNA, with its double helix, carries genetic information, RNA, made up of a tape, is a messenger that allows the instructions in DNA to be carried out.
It is made up of four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine and uracil. This study is the latest to examine 5.4 grams of debris and dust from the Japanese probe Hayabusa-2 Ryugu, d.Discovered in 1999 and located 300 million kilometers from our planet. Hayabusa-2, launched from Earth in 2014, returned to Earth orbit in 2020 to release a capsule containing a sample.
“Strong Evidence”
This discovery provides the core of the so-called “panspermia” theory, according to which life existed on Earth. “Sown“From outer space when asteroids collided with the planet. This theory does not exclude the origin of life on Earth from primitive oceans or its atmosphere.
She offers a “Strong Evidence That One of the Components of RNA Was Given to Earth Before Life Emerged”, hit our planet via a Ryugu-like asteroid, according to Hokkaido University Associate Professor Yasuhiro Oba, one of the study’s authors. He “assumed” There is such a deposit “Prebiotics played a role in evolution and possibly the origin of life” on earth.
Other RNA components were not identified in the Ryugu samples, although the researchers did not rule out their presence, but at very low undetectable levels. The professor hopes to be able to analyze other asteroid samples in the future, such as the one the Osiris-Rex probe should bring back from the asteroid Bennu, which is expected to hit Earth this year.
