Scientists have questioned the 160-year-old theory of the origin of life on Earth

A new study by scientists from Scripps Research and Georgia Institute of Technology has called into question one of the oldest scientific hypotheses about the origin of life on Earth. It concerns the so-called formose reaction, according to which the sugar ribose - a key component of RNA - supposedly could have formed spontaneously on early Earth.

As reported by SciTechDaily, scientists conducted experiments under controlled laboratory conditions and found that the formose reaction does not lead to the formation of linear sugars, including ribose. Instead, branched structures predominate, which cannot serve as a basis for the formation of RNA - a molecule that plays a key role in the transmission of genetic information.

"If we want to understand how these sugars could have emerged on early Earth, we need to look for alternative scenarios," said Professor of Chemistry Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy, co-author of the study.

Charles Liotta, Professor Emeritus at Georgia Institute of Technology, also noted that the results of their work call into question the application of the formose reaction as a universal explanation for the origin of life molecules.

Although the study did not provide an answer to the question of the origin of ribose, its findings may find practical applications in other areas. In particular, the mild reaction conditions allow for more efficient production of branched sugars - an important raw material for the production of environmentally friendly biofuels.

The scientists emphasize that this is not a definitive rejection of the formose reaction hypothesis, but the results should encourage the scientific community to seek new ways of understanding the origin of life on our planet.