Scientists have carried out simulations that seems to support the theory according to which life’s building blocks may have formed on icy interplanetary dust and then taken to Earth, where it spawned into more complex forms.
The discovery resulted of a joint study by chemists from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Hawaii, Manoa.
The experiment, which simulated the cosmic environment, showed that from deep space can emerge complex depeptides – linked pairs of amino acids – that are essential building blocks shared by all living things.
These findings suggest the possibility these molecules, after forming in space, were "seeded" to Earth by a comet or possibly meteorites, catalyzing the formation of proteins (polypeptides), enzymes and even more complex molecules, such as sugars, that are necessary for life, a UC Berkeley release reported Tuesday.
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