Can DNA bases be produced during molecular cloud collapse?

2000/01/06 by Sonali Chakrabarti, Chakrabarti, Sonali, Sandip K. Chakrabarti +1
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Origins and Evolution of Life #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0001079

4 pages including Figures; Accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysics Letters

arxiv created 2000/01/06 · openalex publication_date 2000/01/06 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Using a reasonably large chemical reaction network consisting of 421 species, we show that along with normal chemical evolution of molecular cloud during collapse and star formation, significant amount of adenine, a DNA base, may be produced after an evolution of 10^6-7 years. This findings may shed light on whether life on earth had to begin from scratch or these molecules could have contaminated the earth from the beginning.

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