Everything needed to make DNA and RNA found in asteroid sample
- Reference: 1773728956
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/03/17/everything_needed_to_make_dna/
- Source link:
As outlined in a [1]paper titled “A complete set of canonical nucleobases in the carbonaceous asteroid (162173) Ryugu” that appeared in the journal Nature Astronomy this week, analysis of [2]samples from Ryugu turned up “all five canonical nucleobases – purines (adenine and guanine) and pyrimidines (cytosine, thymine and uracil).”
That matters because “The purines adenine and guanine and the pyrimidines cytosine, uracil and thymine constitute the base sequences of DNA and RNA that encode and transmit genetic information.”
[3]
And they were all floating around in an orbit between Earth and Mars.
[4]
[5]
“This implies that the molecular prerequisites for life are not unique to Earth and may emerge as natural products of chemical evolution throughout the Solar System,” the paper states.
There’s more: “Nucleobases could have been delivered to the early Earth, potentially contributing to the molecular inventory necessary for life,” the paper argues. “Furthermore, elucidating the formation mechanisms of extraterrestrial nucleobases helps to constrain the universal physicochemical conditions under which they can form abiotically, thus linking astrochemical processes in interstellar and planetary environments to the chemical evolution that preceded the origin of life.”
[6]
The authors drew those conclusions after considering samples from Ryugu, plus the Bennu asteroid [7]visited by NASA in 2023, and the Orgueil meteorite, a space rock that landed in France in 1864.
Samples taken from Bennu also indicate the presence of the five canonical nucleobases.
Scientists believe Orgueil also contained the nucleobases uracil, adenine, and guanine.
[8]Turns out Hayabusa2's next asteroid target isn't much bigger than the probe itself
[9]Ryugu asteroid: It came from the outer Solar System, say scientists
[10]Most chatbots will help plan school shootings and other violence, study shows
[11]Boffins' first take on asteroid dust from Japanese probe: Carbon rich, less lumpy than expected
Japan’s Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, which curated the samples from Ryugu, [12]interpreted the paper as indicating “the fundamental components of genetic material were likely produced universally during the formation of the Solar System, providing important direct evidence for early chemical evolution.”
“The relative abundance of purine and pyrimidine nucleobases in Ryugu reflects their formation pathways,” the agency asserted. “A clear correlation between the purine-to-pyrimidine ratio and ammonia abundance led us to propose a new molecular indicator of non-biological nucleobase evolution.”
[13]
That suggests that our Solar System cooked up the stuff of life as it formed.
And billions of years later, an entity whose existence may just be due to those strange cosmic processes is bringing you the news in The Register . ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-02791-z
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/15/jaxa_asteroid_samples/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2abk0VDYNZFHy2KAPcRfVvwAAAAY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/30/asteroid_bennu_life/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/19/hayabusa2_asteroid_measurements_refined/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/16/ryugu_samples/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/11/chatbot_violence_countering_digital_hate_study/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/22/first_ryugu_asteroid_sample_analyses_published/
[12] https://www.jamstec.go.jp/e/about/press_release/20260317/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33abk0VDYNZFHy2KAPcRfVvwAAAAY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: So life is older than Earth
The earliest signs of life on the planet are still a few hundred million years after its formation. These molecules themselves aren't "life" and the conditions inside Earth, or even just on its surface, during its formation would have dissociated them anyway.
Re: So life is older than Earth
I wouldn't be betting on those points. Water is a common ingredient of planet formation. It'd be infused throughout the mantle and would take eons to surface.
I'm fairly sure ...
... we had found all that in interstellar gasses before the end of the 1960s.
Re: I'm fairly sure ...
Serendipity:
https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/17/scientists_build_farttracking_underwear_discover/
Re: I'm fairly sure ...
In the 1960s astronomers were finding plenty of simple radicals, including some with carbon - CH CN - although the big stuff was around hydroxyl, as it was found to be creating natural MASERs in at least two wavelengths. And IIRC some silicon radical MASER as well?
By the end of the decade we were finding interstellar water and ammonia; I think also formaldehyde but that may be into the 70s by then? Methanol and ethanol abound, but we were still getting excited about that in 2006 ( [1]Astronomers spy 288bn mile cloud of alcohol : "Make mine a double" says Register.
Later on we detected some emissions from amino acids, so working the way up the chain, but not sure it's safe to claim we've found the nucleotides as yet.
We've just had our astro soc meeting, but hopefully I'll remember for next month, Fred will know all about it.
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2006/04/06/alcohol_cloud/
So everyone on earth is an immigrant then ?
Interesting
So life is older than Earth
Sounds entirely expected. Also means life was inside Earth during formation.