On Wednesday, January 29, 2025, The New York Times posted an article titled “Lurking Inside an Asteroid: Life’s Ingredients,” which outlined new discoveries from an asteroid collected by a NASA spacecraft. Researchers studying the debris from an asteroid named Bennu found it contained many important building blocks of life. The collection of this debris was a seven-year process using the Osiris-Rex spacecraft, which launched from Cape Canaveral, FL, in 2016 and returned to Earth in 2023. The spacecraft planned to orbit the asteroid before scientists decided where to scoop the sample from. After examination, 16 of the 20 amino acids used in our cells were found in Bennu’s debris. Additionally, the article shares that the debris contained the five nucleobases involved in protein synthesis through RNA and DNA. Although there is no confirmation of other life, the team of researchers believes that the presence of nucleobases and amino acids could have been an early ancestor of our present-day genes. The researchers do not believe there were any cells on the asteroid but do believe that the atmosphere of Bennu allowed some path toward life before it became too icy. The New York Times article ends with a quote from one of the researchers saying there is a slight chance that life started on the Bennu asteroid.
Although the article did not directly talk about the genetics of any individual organisms, I think it was interesting to learn about where our genes may have arisen from millions of years ago. Learning that there are amino acids and nucleobases in other parts of our solar system was interesting because it begs the question of whether life exists in places other than Earth. Additionally, I think this article was a good bridge between the biodiversity & evolution and genetics courses because it demonstrates that there is still a lack of answers to some questions in biology, especially regarding the beginning of life and how our genes have evolved into the organisms we encounter today.
Links:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/29/science/nasa-bennu-asteroid-molecules.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/09/science/nasa-launches-osiris-rex-spacecraft-to-retrieve-asteroid-pieces.html
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