Prebiotic organic compounds in samples of asteroid Bennu indicate heterogeneous aqueous alteration.

ABSTRACT: NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission characterized the asteroid Bennu and delivered pristine samples of its regolith to Earth. Coordinated analyses of this primitive, carbonaceous material are elucidating the abiotic formation and inventory of prebiotic organic compounds in the early Solar System. Using pyrolysis and wet-chemistry techniques, we analyzed aggregate (unsorted particulate) material and three distinct stones that appear to correspond to different boulder types observed by the spacecraft. Results from the aggregate were consistent with previous work that detected the five canonical nucleobases and 14 of the 20 α-amino acids utilized by life to synthesize proteins. However, our analytical approach tentatively uncovered trace signals of a fifteenth α-amino acid, tryptophan, which has not be

SUBMITTER: Mojarro A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12704803 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature