Scientists Find DNA Building Blocks in Asteroids

The basic ingredients for life may have originated in outer space after scientists discovered the building blocks of DNA in meteorites that landed in North America and Australia.

Scientists had found three of the five basic chemicals that make up DNA andRNA. The two missing puzzle pieces are the subject of a new study published in the journal Nature Communications.

Between 1950 and 2000 meteorites fell in Canada, the US and Australia.

The research could change the way we understand the early processes that allowed life to form on our planet.

The study shows that a diversity of meteorites could be used as building blocks for the early Earth.

Much to Learn

We don't have a clear picture of how life began because we don't have enough information.

Danny Glavin, a NASA scientist and co-author of the study, said there is still much to learn about the chemical steps that led to the origin of life on Earth.

Life can be formed by other components beyond the five nucleobases. The discovery is a new clue.

The present results may not directly determine the origin of life on the Earth, but I believe that they can improve our understanding of the inventory of organic molecule on the early Earth before the start of life.

meteorites from Canada, the U.S., and Australia contain all 5 building blocks of DNA.

Scientists claim to have created Earth's first life.