"At the start of this project, it looked like the nucleobases in these meteorites were terrestrial contamination - these results were a very big surprise for me," study co-author Michael Callahan, an analytical chemist and astrobiologist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, told. "Finding nucleobase compounds not typically found in Earth's biochemistry strongly supports an extraterrestrial origin," Cleaves said. Intriguingly, three of these nucleobase analogs are very rare in Earth biology, and were not found in soil and ice samples from the areas near where the meteorites were collected at the parts-per-billion limits of their detection techniques. Two of the carbonaceous chondrites contained a diverse array of nucleobases and structurally similar compounds known as nucleobase analogs. The analytical techniques probed the mass and other features of the molecules to identify the presence of extraterrestrial nucleobases and see that they apparently did not come from the surrounding area. This was the first time all but two of these meteorites had been analyzed for nucleobases. To help confirm if any nucleobases seen in meteorites were of extraterrestrial origin, scientists used the latest scientific analysis techniques on samples from a dozen meteorites - 11 organic-rich meteorites called carbonaceous chondrites and one ureilite, a very rare type of meteorite with a different chemical composition. "People have been finding nucleobases in meteorites for about 50 years now, and have been trying to figure out if they are of biological origin or not," study co-author Jim Cleaves, a chemist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, told. However, it has been very difficult to prove that these molecules are not contamination from sources on Earth. Investigators have also found nucleobases, key ingredients of DNA, in meteorites before. Space rocks just like these may have been a vital source of the organic compounds that gave rise to life on Earth. Glycine is helpful in maintaining the proper cell growth, and its. Glutamine promotes a healthy brain function and is necessary for the synthesis of nucleic acids DNA and RNA. ![]() There are twenty amino acids, among which 11 are non-essential amino acids and 9 are essential amino acids. DNA and RNA are made up of building blocks called nucleotides. Past research had revealed a range of building blocks of life in meteorites, such as the amino acids that make up proteins. Amino Acids are the building blocks of proteins. Proteins, the building blocks of life are long chains of amino acids.
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