Japan detects more than 20 types of amino acids in material samples from asteroids

On June 6, Japanese officials announced that Japanese scientists had detected more than 20 types of amino acids in material samples brought back to Earth by the Hayabusa2 probe from an asteroid at the end of 2020.

According to an official from the Ministry of Education, the amino acid samples discovered are very important substances for the organism and may contain clues for scientists to understand the origin of life.

After 6 years of space exploration, in December 2020, Japan's Hayabusa-2 spacecraft carried a sample of material taken from asteroid Ryugu back to Earth. The total weight of samples collected by the Hayabusa-2 spacecraft from the asteroid is more than 5.4 grams. Before that, in 2014, the Haybusa 2 spacecraft was launched into space to perform a mission to collect samples from the asteroid Ryugu 300 million km from Earth. It took the Hayabusa 2 train 4 years to reach Ryugu. This spacecraft was docked at this asteroid for a year and a half to observe and collect samples before sending it back to Earth.

In addition to discovering the asteroid Ryugu, the Hayabusa2 spacecraft also expanded its exploration mission to two new asteroids.

Earlier, a study published in the journal Nature Communications discovered the essential chemical components for life in meteorites that fell to the US, Canada and Australia, thereby helping to support the hypothesis that these Similar objects in outer space may have reached Earth very early.

Specifically, during the research, scientists analyzed the materials of three meteorites, including one that fell on the town of Murray in the US state of Kentucky in 1950, and one that crashed near the town. Murchison in the Australian state of Victoria in 1969, a piece fell near Lake Tagish in the Canadian province of British Columbia in 2000.

All three are spherical meteorites containing carbon, from a rock-hard material and are thought to have formed early in the history of the solar system. The meteorites are all rich in carbon, with the meteorite in Australia and the US containing 2% organic carbon by weight, while the meteorite in Canada contains about 4% organic carbon.

Carbon is believed to be the first component of living things on Earth. All three meteorites contain a complex mixture of organic molecules, with most of the components unknown.

Scientists have discovered that in these meteorites, there are 3 out of 5 chemical components needed to make DNA (the molecule that carries genetic information, which instructs how to make proteins important for growth. growth and development of all living things) and RNA (molecule that plays an important role in controlling the activities of genes). On April 26, researchers announced that they had identified the last two chemical components after adjusting the method of analyzing meteorites.

According to the study's lead author, chemist and astronomer Yasuhiro Oba of the Institute of Low Thermal Science at Hokkaido University (Japan), unlike previous times, the methods used this time are sensitive. and does not use strong acids or hot liquids to extract the 5 components, also known as nucleobases (the building blocks of nucleic acids).

Nucleobases are nitrogen-containing compounds that play an important role in creating the characteristic helical structure of DNA. Two nucleobases, cytosine and thymine, newly discovered in meteorites can evade previous tests, because they possess a more fragile structure than the other three. However, these five nucleobases do not appear to be the only chemical compounds that play an important role in the formation of life. Other important components include amino acids, sugars, and fatty acids.

Study co-author Danny Glavin of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, said that confirming the extraterrestrial origin of the complete nucleobase is found in DNA and RNA. further supported the hypothesis that meteorites may have been an important source of the organic compounds needed to create the first living organisms on Earth.