Genetic Building Blocks May Have Formed in Space

alen1 · Jun 17, 2008

Some fundamental building blocks of our genetic code might have come from outer space, according to a controversial new meteorite study.
meteorite

The study suggests that some organic compounds associated with genetic material might have formed in a meteorite called Murchison before it landed in Australia in 1969. The chemicals are two kinds of nucleobases, ring-like carbon molecules that are essential for the creation of nucleic acids like DNA and RNA.
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No one knows how life got its start. Primitive Earth conditions might not have been favourable for the chemistry needed to create life's building blocks.

Instead, researchers have argued that frequent bombardments by meteorites 3.8 billion years ago – when life is suspected to have first emerged – could have delivered the material to Earth, where it might have helped further the development of life.
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The team looked at two different isotopes of carbon in the chemicals, which included the nucleobases uracil and xanthine. The lighter version, carbon-12, is present on Earth in large amounts. Carbon-13 is more common in sweeping clouds of cold, interstellar gas. Large amounts of the stuff usually indicate the material did not form on

The ratio of carbon-13 to carbon-12 was unusually high in the two nucleobases, leading the team to conclude the materials likely formed in the meteorite itself rather than on Earth.
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http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Story?id=5179322&page=2

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