Research claims that the RNA molecule preceded DNA – and is the basis of life on the planet

RNA, ribonucleic acid, is a central molecule in every living cell. It transmits genetic information, participates in building proteins, and in some cases is even able to catalyze chemical reactions on its own. Due to its relative simplicity compared to DNA. Scientists have believed for years that RNA was the first genetic molecule in the history of life. But the question of how RNA was created for the first time under natural conditions, without intentional intervention, remains open.

In the laboratory, the researchers combined the basic components of RNA – ribose sugar, phosphates and the four nitrogenous building blocks, with borates and basalt rock. The mixture was alternately heated and dried, under conditions that simulate environments of underground water reservoirs on the early Earth. The result was unequivocal: RNA molecules were formed, and the borates not only did not interfere, but also helped stabilize the ribose and promote key steps in the chemical process.

The meaning is broader when you combine the findings with data from space. In the OSIRIS-REx mission of the American space agency NASA, samples from the asteroid Bennu were brought to Earth. In the latest tests, ribose sugar was also found in these samples, which for the first time completes all the RNA components in one place outside of Earth. This finding strengthens the possibility that the building blocks of life are widespread in the solar system, and perhaps even in the entire universe.

According to the researchers, a likely scenario is the impact of a large celestial body, with a diameter of hundreds of kilometers, on the Earth about 4.3 billion years ago. Such damage could have brought large amounts of organic materials, including RNA components. Later, under suitable geological conditions, RNA molecules could be formed a relatively short time after the formation of the planet. This is a period of time of about 200 million years before the earliest geochemical evidence of life.

However, the study is not without criticism. Some argue that the very act of collecting all the materials and placing them in a test tube is a form of human intervention. The researchers reply that their claim is not to create life, but to demonstrate that a reasonable and physics-based chemical process can lead to the creation of RNA under natural conditions.

The findings are also of interest in the context of Mars. Borates were previously detected on the surface of the Red Planet, and asteroid impacts also occurred there in the beginning. Theoretically, the conditions for the creation of RNA could also exist there, even though RNA itself is not living

The new research does not definitively solve the mystery of the beginning of life, but it narrows the gap between simple chemistry and primitive biology. If RNA did form relatively easily on the early Earth, the transition from inanimate matter to biological systems may have been faster than previously thought.