Interstellar space just got a little sweeter: A type of sugar called erythrulose has been found near its center galaxyAccording to a new study.
The discovery, made in a gas cloud called G+0.693-0.027, is the first time this sugar has been found outside. Solar system and adds to research identifying similar life-friendly ingredients, such as water, around our galaxy.
Erythrulose, which is made up of four carbon atoms, is also found in raspberries. Its interstellar presence was confirmed by the YBS 40-meter and IRAM 30-meter radio telescopes in Spain, the research team Reported Monday (July 13) in the journal Nature Astronomy. The signal for erythrulose was confirmed by patterns measured in the laboratory.
While space researchers often focus on water and carbon when searching for the ingredients of life, sugars are also essential. “Sugars are vital molecules in living systems, helping to provide energy, build important biological structures, and form parts of genetic material,” the researchers said in a statement.
“We were able to achieve this identification due to the combination of exceptionally sensitive observations, broad frequency coverage and highly accurate laboratory spectroscopic data,” said the study’s co-author. Izaskun Jimenez-Serraa staff researcher at the Spanish National Research Council told Live Science in an email. “In addition, our astronomical target has one of the richest chemical reservoirs in the galaxy, which increases the chances of detection,”
Discovering erythrulose, he added, is “particularly relevant to the field of the origin of life” because it changes the configuration of the sugar Thr – another sugar previously thought to be a precursor to the nucleic acids that evolved into RNA and DNA.
The galaxy rises during a clear summer night on a radio telescope from the Yebes Observatory.
(Image credit: Marcos del Mazo via Getty Images)
Sugar, space, and everything good
Sugars have also been observed before in meteorites and asteroid samples, particularly ribose (AN). royal army building block) and glucose (a product of). photosynthesis on earth). Recently, for example, Samples returned from asteroid Bennu by OSIRIS-REx mission found included both ribose and glucoseSuggesting that these elements important to biology are available elsewhere in the Solar System.
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Previously, scientists could not figure out how erythrulose could be made in conditions similar to the early Earth. This is because laboratory experiments “yield insufficient concentrations” of erythrulose on the surface of prebiotic (pre-life) Earth, the researchers explained.
In contrast, the new discovery of erythrulose in clouds of interstellar gas and dust suggests that erythrulose may be found in the interstellar medium to include rocky planets like Earth when they are first forming and evolving.
As such, ribose, glucose and erythrulose may have been part of the “sugar list” before they were fully formed on Earth, the researchers said. “The findings suggest that erythrulose can be made from simple molecules on dust particles in space, and then become part of more complex chemical systems,” the team said in the statement.
The sweet detection adds further evidence to the theory that many, if not all, of the essential elements of life are abundant in space.
“One of the most exciting next steps is to discover even more complex sugars and molecules that are direct precursors to RNA and other biologically important compounds,” Jiménez-Serra told Live Science. “We want to understand how far prebiotic chemistry may have progressed before planets form, and what chemical inventory young planetary systems inherit from interstellar space.”