A team of Japanese scientists report finding the organic molecule ribose in a recent analysis of primitive meteorites.

Analysing samples of three meteorites – NWA 801 and NWA 7020, both found in North Africa, and the Munchinson meteorite found in Australia – Yoshiro Furukawa and this team in Japan were able to detect the presence of ribose. Using carbon 13 isotope signatures, they were further able to determine that this sugar likely originated in space, rather then the meteorites being contaminated with the molecule after their descent to earth.

Certain sugars are extremely important in biological processes. Derivatives of ribose for example, are found in ATP and NADH, which are critical compounds in a number for a number of functions, such as the metabolic Krebs cycle. Forms of ribose are also found in RNA (Ribonucleic acid) and DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid).

How organic compounds needed to form life came to be on earth is an important topic in science. One theory suggests that most if not all vital components fell to earth on extraterrestrial bodies such as meteorites and comets. This idea has some merit, as the presence of amino acids and nucleotides have been detected in samples of meteorites and comets, but until this study the existence of extraterrestrial ribose has been unclear.

The discovery of ribose in meteorites lends credence to the idea that extraterrestrial sugars may have had a critical role in the formation of early life on earth, and potentially other planets as well.