By simulating conditions in space, scientists in France say they found ribose -- the 'R' in RNA - and it's potentially present throughout the universe.
Scientists have searched for the origins of ribose, the backbone of RNA essential for life on Earth, but had not found it in experiments until now.
So not only is space full of comets and asteroids rich with water ice, amino acids and simple sugars that can bind into more complex precursors of DNA and RNA strands, but it seems that conditions in interstellar space could also alter carbon rich molecules into full blown nucleobases.
Some believe the Earth was seeded by comets or asteroids that contained the basic building blocks needed to form such molecules.
RNA, which is considered more primitive, is believed to have been one of the first molecules characteristic of life to appear on Earth.
Scientists have long wondered about the origin of these biological compounds.
Researcher at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis said, "It shows that the molecular building blocks of the potentially first genetic material are abundant in interstellar environments."
Finding that ribose can be created in space offers a better understanding of life on Earth, as well as the potential for life on other worlds, scientists say.
"Our detection of ribose provides plausible insights into the chemical processes that could lead to formation of biologically relevant molecules in suitable planetary environments," the researchers wrote in the study.
The finding has implications not just for the study of the origins of life on Earth, but also for understanding how much life there might be beyond our planet.
The new work, published Thursday in Science, fills in another piece of the puzzle, said Andrew Mattioda, an astrochemist at NASA Ames Research Center, who was not involved with the study.
"If all these molecules that are necessary for life are everywhere out in space, the case gets a lot better that you'll find life outside of Earth," he said.
RNA, which stands for ribonucleic acid, is one of the three macromolecules that are necessary for all life on Earth - the other two are DNA and proteins.
Many scientists believe that RNA is a more ancient molecule than DNA and that before DNA came on the scene, an "RNA world" existed on Earth. However, ribose, a key component in RNA, only forms under specific conditions, and scientists say those conditions were not present on our planet before life evolved. So, where did the ribose in the first RNA strands come from?
