This sugar is not just a fruit staple, but a universal one, astronomers reveal

Trini Legaspi

Can sugar compounds in small fruits be a possible basis for life existing throughout the universe?

Astronomers from the Spain Center of Astrobiology have discovered sugar compounds in space that lie within dust and gas clouds within the interstellar medium of the Milky Way galaxy.

Using Spain’s two radio telescopes in Madrid and Sierra Nevada, a four-carbon sugar called erythrulose was detected from a molecular cloud near the center of the Milky Way—the same sugar found in raspberries and tanning products.

Its composition was then identified through radio wave data from the cloud’s wavelength pattern similar to the 12-line pattern from erythrulose samples collected within the organization’s laboratory.

Though it is not the first time astronomers detected sugar within other celestial bodies, given the discovery of sugar within the Bennu asteroid in 2020, the study suggested that there are sugars made in complex forms within space, particularly via asteroids.

“The detection of ribose, glucose, and other monosaccharides in asteroids and meteorites suggests an exogenous origin, possibly in the interstellar medium before meteoritic parent-body formation,” according to the study’s abstract.

The astronomer-researchers also estimated that 0.5 to 50 million metric tons of erythrulose could have resulted from the collision of asteroids and comets during the Late Heavy Bombardment that happened around four billion years back then.

“Although the extent and intensity of the Late Heavy Bombardment has recently been questioned, Monte-Carlo simulations of Earth’s impact history show that biopoiesis—the process describing the development of living matter from non-living organic matter could occur with at least a 16% chance,” according to the study’s discussion.

Despite the estimated possibility, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) stated that the phenomenon is still a subject of scientific debate, given the study’s statistical estimates.

Whether this discovery could advance in detecting more sugars in space, the latest discovery alone revealed one of the most complex discoveries in finding the compounds’ existence outside of asteroids and comets, despite erythrulose not being a component for life. 

The recent detection of erythrulose proves that this sugar is more than just a component found in raspberries, but an eye-opener toward analyzing theories about panspermia, or the theory about how small life components in the universe travel to Earth through collisions. 

While it is just one of the few phenomena in supporting the scientific theory, its impact can be a significant foundation in understanding how genetic material like DNA and RNA were formed even before the creation of planets.