ribose Archives

Orgueil Carbonaceous Chondrite - Wikipedia

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release, Sample Return

Abiotic Sugar Enantiomers In The CI Carbonaceous Chondrite Orgueil

by Keith CowingFebruary 3, 2026March 2, 2026

The uneven detection of prebiotic organic compounds in meteorites—where amino acids and nucleobases are commonly identified but sugars remain rare and poorly characterized—limits our understanding of extraterrestrial organic chemistry.

Artistic depiction of liposome formation and evolution. Liposomes formed on the surface of the Archean water pools are destroyed by Solar UV unless they acquire two adaptive traits – the heavy content that sinks the liposomes to the bottom of the pool and facilitates protection from UV, and the formation of resilient autocatalytic membrane composition that ensures liposomal survival, fusion, fission, and mutation of the components, thus providing liposomes adaptation and persistence. -- q-bio.PE

Astrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Meteorites & Asteroids, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

Heuristic Model On The Origin Of The Homochirality Of Life

by Keith CowingJanuary 2, 2026January 3, 2026

Life demonstrates remarkable homochirality of its major building blocks: nucleic acids, amino acids, sugars, and phospholipids. We propose a mechanism that places the root of life homochirality in the formation […]

A team of Japanese and US scientists have discovered the bio-essential sugars ribose and glucose in samples of asteroid Bennu that were collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. This finding builds on the earlier discovery of nucleobases (the genetic components of DNA and RNA), phosphate, and amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) in the Bennu samples, showing that the molecular ingredients of life could have been delivered to early Earth by meteorites. Download this graphic from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio website: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14932 NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Dan Gallagher

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Icy Worlds, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Origin & Evolution of Life, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Sample Return

Sugars And Stardust Found In NASA’s Asteroid Bennu Samples

by Keith CowingDecember 2, 2025December 2, 2025

The asteroid Bennu continues to provide new clues to scientists’ biggest questions about the formation of the early solar system and the origins of life.

Astrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

Origins Of The Building Blocks Of Life: A Review

by Keith CowingJuly 14, 2025July 14, 2025

How and where did life on Earth originate? To date, various environments have been proposed as plausible sites for the origin of life. However, discussions have focused on a limited […]

The “HCN machine”: Geological, atmospheric, meteoritic, and chemical processes synthesizing the building blocks of life on the Hadean Earth (artist’s impression, own creation, © Klaus Paschek).

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Impact events, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Origin & Evolution of Life, Panspermia, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Deep Mantle-Atmosphere Coupling And Carbonaceous Bombardment: Options For Biomolecule Formation On Aan Oxidized Early Earth

by Keith CowingMarch 21, 2025March 21, 2025

Understanding what environmental conditions prevailed on early Earth during the Hadean eon, and how this set the stage for the origins of life, remains a challenge.

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Cryobiology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Radiation, Status Report

Ionizing Radiation Exposure On Arrokoth Shapes A Sugar World

by Keith CowingDecember 9, 2024December 9, 2024

The flyby of the New Horizons spacecraft of the Kuiper Belt Object Arrokoth revealed its reddish appearance and unraveled the unexpected presence of a methanol-rich surface.

Hexose sugar permeability through archaeal and hybrid membranes. Temporal dependence of average carboxyfluorescein (CF) fluorescence in the archaea-like G1PC phospholipid membrane (G1PC, filled symbols) and in the ‘hybrid’ phospholipid membrane (G3PC, open symbols) during the exposure to 1 mM of variant substrates delivered to the microfluidic coves. Mean (symbols) and standard deviation (error bars) were calculated from at least 10 single-vesicle measurements across three independent experiments. Data are processed and illustrated as described in Figure 1 legend. N is the number of single vesicles investigated for each substrate exposure and each type of vesicles. **: p-value < 0.01. Numerical values of CF fluorescence in individual vesicles for each lipid type during the delivery of each substrate are provided in S1 File and S2 File. -- biorxiv.org

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

Membrane Permeability Selection Drove the Stereochemistry of Life

by Keith CowingMay 9, 2024September 18, 2025

Early in the evolution of life a proto-metabolic network was encapsulated within a membrane compartment. The permeability characteristics of the membrane determined several key functions of this network by determining […]