Ribose and related sugars from ultraviolet irradiation of interstellar ice analogs

Abstract

Making ribose in interstellar ices Astrobiologists have long speculated on the origin of prebiotic molecules such as amino acids and sugars. Meinert et al. demonstrated that numerous prebiotic molecules can be formed in an interstellar-analog sample containing a mixture of simple ices of water, methanol, and ammonia. They irradiated the sample with ultraviolet light under conditions similar to those expected during the formation of the solar system. This yielded a wide variety of sugars, including ribose—a major constituent of ribonucleic acid (RNA). Science , this issue p. 208