论文标题：Deoxyribose and deoxysugar derivatives from photoprocessed astrophysical ice analogues and comparison to meteorites

期刊：Nature Communications

作者：Michel Nuevo, George Cooper, Scott A. Sandford

发表时间：2018/12/18

数字识别码： 10.1038/s41467-018-07693-x

原文链接：http://t.cn/E4Ivg2g

微信链接：https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/3c7HOeCp4BKjqnZ1r-xP2w

在实验室的标准天体物理学条件下，研究人员在紫外线辐射冰混合物后产生的残留物中检测到了2-脱氧核糖（DNA的糖组分）和若干脱氧糖衍生物。《自然-通讯》发表的这项研究Deoxyribose and deoxysugar derivatives from photoprocessed astrophysical ice analogues and comparison to meteorites还首次在碳质陨石样本中鉴定出了若干脱氧糖衍生物。然而在所分析的陨石样本中，无法确认是否存在较大的糖，如2-脱氧核糖。

图1 图源：Pixabay

过去25年来，模拟类似天体物理学冰的化合物的光辐射或粒子轰击的实验室实验表明，有机分子可以在非生物条件下形成。原始陨石中糖衍生物（包括核糖）和其它生物化合物（如氨基酸）的存在表明，原始地球上生物过程开始时的大部分化合物可能是通过彗星、陨石和行星际尘埃颗粒而来的。

图2：紫外线辐射冰混合物后产生的残留物中2-脱氧核糖的鉴定。图源：Nuevo等

美国NASA埃姆斯研究中心的Michel Nuevo及其同事在天体物理学条件下，在由水和甲醇组成的冰混合物的紫外线辐射所产生的残留物中，检测到存在2-脱氧核糖和其它脱氧糖衍生物。在分析陨石样本时，作者发现了若干脱氧糖衍生物的存在。不过无法明确证实更大的糖类（如2-脱氧核糖）的存在。尽管如此，作者认为借助较大（以及不同）的陨石样本，或许可以得到它们在地外环境中是否存在的更明确的答案。

摘要：Sugars and their derivatives are essential to all terrestrial life. Their presence in meteorites, together with amino acids, nucleobases, amphiphiles, and other compounds of biological importance, may have contributed to the inventory of organics that played a role in the emergence of life on Earth. Sugars, including ribose (the sugar of RNA), and other sugar derivatives have been identified in laboratory experiments simulating photoprocessing of ices under astrophysical conditions. In this work, we report the detection of 2-deoxyribose (the sugar of DNA) and several deoxysugar derivatives in residues produced from the ultraviolet irradiation of ice mixtures consisting of H2O and CH3OH. The detection of deoxysugar derivatives adds to the inventory of compounds of biological interest that can form under astrophysical conditions and puts constraints on their abiotic formation pathway. Finally, we report that some of the deoxysugar derivatives found in our residues are also newly identified in carbonaceous meteorites.

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来源：科学网