‘Meteorites helped create life on Earth’

WASHINGTON: Scientists have found components of DNA, the building blocks of life on Earth, in meteorites, a discovery they say confirms the theory that at least some of the materials needed to make early life forms came to our planet from space.

In the Nasa-funded study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists used advanced mass spectrometry instruments to scan 11 organic-rich meteorites called carbonaceous chondrites and one ureilite, a very rare meteorite with a different chemical composition . They found three nucleobases - purine, 6,8-diaminopurine and 2,6-diaminopurine - that are widely distributed in carbonaceous chondrites and which are "rare or absent in terrestrial biology" , said the researchers.