Scientists found that meteorite impact can produce DNA

A recent study pointed out that meteorite hitting ancient seas may have created nucleic acid bases and amino acids. Researchers at Tohoku University in Japan, the National Institute of Materials Science in Japan, and Hiroshima University in Japan discovered this result after conducting impact experiments that simulated meteorites impacting ancient seas. Through the accurate analysis of the product recovered after the impact, the team found that inorganic compounds formed nucleic acid bases and amino acids.

The study was published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

All genetic information of modern life is stored in DNA in the form of nucleic acid base sequences. However, the use of inorganic compounds to form nucleic acid bases on pre-life planets has been considered to be quite difficult.

In 2009, scientists reported that the simplest amino acids and glycines were formed by simulating meteorite impacts. This time, they used bicarbonate to replace the carbon source and conducted a high-velocity impact test with a propellant gun at a speed of 1 km/sec.

They found that they formed a more diverse basic building block of life, including two nucleic acid bases and nine protein amino acids. The results show how a genetic molecule initially formed on the earth as a new way.