Uracil in the carbonaceous asteroid (162173) Ryugu

Yasuhiro Oba (), Toshiki Koga, Yoshinori Takano (), Nanako O. Ogawa, Naohiko Ohkouchi, Kazunori Sasaki, Hajime Sato, Daniel P. Glavin, Jason P. Dworkin, Hiroshi Naraoka, Shogo Tachibana, Hisayoshi Yurimoto, Tomoki Nakamura, Takaaki Noguchi, Ryuji Okazaki, Hikaru Yabuta, Kanako Sakamoto, Toru Yada, Masahiro Nishimura, Aiko Nakato, Akiko Miyazaki, Kasumi Yogata, Masanao Abe, Tatsuaki Okada, Tomohiro Usui, Makoto Yoshikawa, Takanao Saiki, Satoshi Tanaka, Fuyuto Terui, Satoru Nakazawa, Sei-ichiro Watanabe and Yuichi Tsuda
Additional contact information
Yasuhiro Oba: Hokkaido University
Toshiki Koga: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Natsushima
Yoshinori Takano: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Natsushima
Nanako O. Ogawa: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Natsushima
Naohiko Ohkouchi: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Natsushima
Kazunori Sasaki: Keio University, Kakuganji
Hajime Sato: Human Metabolome Technologies Inc., Kakuganji
Daniel P. Glavin: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Jason P. Dworkin: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Hiroshi Naraoka: Kyushu University
Shogo Tachibana: University of Tokyo
Hisayoshi Yurimoto: Hokkaido University
Tomoki Nakamura: Tohoku University
Takaaki Noguchi: Kyoto University
Ryuji Okazaki: Kyushu University
Hikaru Yabuta: Hiroshima University
Kanako Sakamoto: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Toru Yada: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Masahiro Nishimura: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Aiko Nakato: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Akiko Miyazaki: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Kasumi Yogata: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Masanao Abe: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Tatsuaki Okada: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Tomohiro Usui: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Makoto Yoshikawa: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Takanao Saiki: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Satoshi Tanaka: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Fuyuto Terui: Kanagawa Institute of Technology
Satoru Nakazawa: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Sei-ichiro Watanabe: Nagoya University
Yuichi Tsuda: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract The pristine sample from the near-Earth carbonaceous asteroid (162173) Ryugu collected by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft enabled us to analyze the pristine extraterrestrial material without uncontrolled exposure to the Earth’s atmosphere and biosphere. The initial analysis team for the soluble organic matter reported the detection of wide variety of organic molecules including racemic amino acids in the Ryugu samples. Here we report the detection of uracil, one of the four nucleobases in ribonucleic acid, in aqueous extracts from Ryugu samples. In addition, nicotinic acid (niacin, a B3 vitamer), its derivatives, and imidazoles were detected in search for nitrogen heterocyclic molecules. The observed difference in the concentration of uracil between A0106 and C0107 may be related to the possible differences in the degree of alteration induced by energetic particles such as ultraviolet photons and cosmic rays. The present study strongly suggests that such molecules of prebiotic interest commonly formed in carbonaceous asteroids including Ryugu and were delivered to the early Earth.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-36904-3

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