The building blocks of life have been found floating near the center of the Milky Way, raising the possibility that life could have evolved on other planets in the universe.
Scientists have discovered that nitriles are abundant in clouds that are outside the solar system.
The "RNA World" theory proposes that the ingredients for life were found on comets and meteorites four billion years ago.
According to the scenario, life on Earth was based on a molecule called ribonucleic acid.
A group of researchers have found several types of nitriles floating in a lake near the center of the universe.
Dr Victor Rivilla is a researcher at the Centre for Astrobiology of the Spanish National Research Council.
Around 700 million years after the planet first formed life on Earth appeared. It's not clear how it got going.
The centre of the Milky Way has been the focus of a search by scientists for regions with complex molecules.
The team used two telescopes in Spain to measure the light bouncing back from the region.
They found three nitriles and two compounds.
The authors of the journal said the discovery offered more evidence in support of the "RNA world" theory and raised the possibility of life evolving under favorable Earth-like planetary environments.
The team is looking for the particles that are needed to turn nitriles intoRNA.
Izaskun Jiménez-Serra, a researcher at CSIC, said that they have detected several simple precursors of the building blocks ofRNA. Key missing molecule are difficult to detect.
The formation of the first cells probably required other molecule such as lipids, which is why we know about the origin of life on Earth. We need to understand how lipids could be formed from simpler precursors.
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