Do meteorites contain sugars or DNA building blocks?
Yes. Some carbonaceous meteorites contain sugars, including ribose, and nucleobases used in DNA and RNA, though not DNA itself.
Carbonaceous chondrites contain a wide range of organic molecules, and some are building blocks of the molecules used by life.
Amino acids. Since the 1970s, dozens of amino acids have been found in meteorites such as Murchison, which fell in Australia in 1969. Many are not used by life on Earth, which helps confirm they are not contamination. Some show a slight excess of the left-handed forms, the type used by life, a possible clue to why life uses only one form.
Nucleobases. The nucleobases are the 'letters' of DNA and RNA: adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine and uracil. Adenine, guanine and uracil were found in meteorites earlier, and in 2022 Japanese researchers reported all five in carbonaceous meteorites, including Murchison. In 2025 all five were reported in the samples returned from asteroid Bennu, which had never been exposed to Earth's environment.
Sugars. In 2019, scientists reported ribose, the sugar in RNA, in the Murchison and NWA 801 meteorites. Other sugars and sugar-related compounds have been found too.
What this means. Meteorites do not contain DNA, RNA, cells or anything alive. But they show that many ingredients for life can form naturally in space and on asteroids, through chemistry involving water, ammonia and simple organic molecules. Early Earth may have received a steady supply from meteorites and dust, which might have helped the chemistry that eventually led to life.
Scientists work hard to rule out contamination, measuring isotopes such as carbon-13 and nitrogen-15 that show an extraterrestrial origin.