New Findings on the Origin of Life

Jülich, 14 April 2016 – Jülich researchers have provided an indication of how a central component of genomes could have originated on Earth aeons ago. With the aid of numerical calculations, they showed that high accumulations of the organic molecule formamide can occur in hydrothermal rock pores. This may lead to the spontaneous formation of nucleobases, the building blocks of DNA and RNA. In primeval times, the necessary conditions were probably widespread in shallow bodies of water.

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