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    Sugars, ‘gum,’ stardust found in NASA’s asteroid Bennu samples

    December 4, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Graphic labeled "Bio-essential sugars ribose and glucose in samples from asteroid Bennu." The left half of the graphic has a background image of Bennu. In front of it are the RNA molecular components on Bennu: guanine, cytosine, ribose, adenine, uracil, and phosphate. Below them, the molecular structure of glucose is accompanied by text: "Ribose and glucose are sugars essential to life on Earth. RNA uses ribose for its structure. Glucose provides cells with energy and is used to make fibers like cellulose. A team of Japanese and US scientists have found ribose and glucose in samples of asteroid Bennu (collected by NASA'S OSIRIS-REx mission), suggesting that these simple sugars were brought to the early Earth by meteorites." The right half of the graphic has a background image of Earth. In front of it is the genetic code for protein synthesis, including ribose, phosphate, and the RNA nucleobases guanine, cytosine adenine, and uracil. Below that, the chemical process of energy production via glycolysis and the chemical structure of cellulose are annotated.
    A team of Japanese and US scientists have discovered the bio-essential sugars ribose and glucose in samples of asteroid Bennu that were collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. This finding builds on the earlier discovery of nucleobases (the genetic components of DNA and RNA), phosphate, and amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) in the Bennu samples, showing that the molecular ingredients of life could have been delivered to early Earth by meteorites. Download this graphic from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio website: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14932
    NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Dan Gallagher 

    The asteroid Bennu continues to provide new clues to scientists’ biggest questions about the formation of the early solar system and the origins of life...

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