Boron is found in a Martian meteorite suggests the red planet may once to cause the correct chemistry of RNA, according to a new study.
"In the early life of RNA is thought to have precursors of DNA data," study researcher James Stephenson, an evolutionary biologist, said in a statement. [Mars meteorites: pieces of the red planet on Earth]
Billions of years ago, RNA molecules are probably the first program information and pass it on to the next generation. Today, is the domain of the DNA. RNA, meanwhile, is responsible for bringing genetic information from DNA to proteins. The researchers believe the RNA component of the sugar, ribose, relies on borates (oxidized form of drilling) to form spontaneously.
"It may be important for borates origin of life on earth because they have a ribose, an important part of RNA, can stabilize" added Stephenson, a postdoc at the University of Hawaii at Manoa NASA Astrobiology Institute (UHNAI).
Stephenson and Miss Lydia Hallis, another UHNAI postdoctoral cosmoche, came up with the idea to look at drilling in meteorites over a beer after work.
"Given that drilling has been involved in the emergence of life, have I assumed that it is indicated on the meteorite," says Stephenson. "Discuss this with Dr. Hallis, I found that it was hardly studied. I was very surprised and excited. It tells me that the monsters and special machines are required to analyse them available at UH. "
Space rock in the center of studies collected during the 2009-2010 season of the Antarctic search for meteorites (ANSMET). The annual objectives of searching to find a dark stone embedded in the pale landscape of Antarctica of possible alien comes. The project was funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution.
Stephenson, Hallis and colleagues pores through a vein of clay in a meteorite from Mars using beta microprobe ion in the lab of w. m. Keck Cosmochemistry science. They found that the concentration of boron in the clay more than ten times higher than in the previous measured space objects. The findings also explain the early history of the Earth, the researchers said.
Hallis said "Earth and Mars used to have more in common than they do today," in a statement. "From time to time, Mars has lost a lot of the atmosphere and surface water, but the old meteorite maintaining smooth clay from the wet period in the history of Mars. Clay March that we study estimated that up to 700 million years. Recycling of the Earth's crust through plate tectonics have no evidence of clay leaving this time on our planet; the Martian clay can provide important information on the State of the environment at the beginning of the Earth. "
While the Martian meteorites tantalizing tips on the red planet, NASA Mars rovers have old chemistry, whose fleet currently consists of curiosity and occasion, the composition of Mars dirt on the site examined. Curiosity Mars earlier this year found that microbial life in the distant past, would have supported based on a sample of 1 ton robot drilled from rocks of Mars. The monster with the chemical components that are considered essential for life, said including sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon, the researchers.
New research is detailed online in the journal PLOS One June 6.
