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Cosmic Sugar: How Extraterrestrial Ribose Fueled Life's Genesis on Earth
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News18•30-09-2026, 11:15
Cosmic Sugar: How Extraterrestrial Ribose Fueled Life's Genesis on Earth
- •New research reveals how fragile sugar from outer space, ribose, may have been crucial for life's origins on Earth, becoming a backbone of vital molecules.
- •Scientists recreated primordial soup conditions, focusing on RNA's fragile ribose sugar, which easily breaks down but can be protected by boron in the form of borate.
- •A study using real minerals, including borate crusts from India's Puga hot springs, found that ribose helps borate minerals dissolve, keeping boron available for chemical reactions.
- •This suggests a two-way relationship: borate protects ribose, and ribose helps keep borate dissolved, influencing mineral formation on early Earth.
- •Meteorites delivered carbon compounds, including ribose, to early Earth, accumulating in primordial soups and potentially influencing the planet's geology even before life emerged.
Key Questions Answered
Research shows that ribose helps borate minerals dissolve and inhibits the formation of solid grains, keeping more boron dissolved in the water and available for chemical reactions.
Borate binds to ribose and helps prevent it from breaking down into brown goop when heated, creating a mutually supportive relationship where ribose also keeps borate dissolved.
A heavy rain of meteorites from the young Solar System bombarded early Earth, delivering carbon compounds and molecules like ribose from space, as evidenced by meteorites such as Murchison.
