Ribose raised dissolved boron from natural minerals in reported lab tests
SCIENCEUnverifiedUpdated:
In reported laboratory tests using natural boron-bearing minerals, adding the RNA-related sugar ribose increased boron dissolved in water, including by about 60% for an Indian hydrothermal-crust analogue.
Comparing four minerals with and without ribose
Researchers tested borax and three natural boron-containing minerals—kernite, colemanite, and ulexite—with and without ribose. The report says ribose increased dissolved boron across all four materials, particularly calcium-containing minerals. In a separate test of evaporative crust from the Puga hydrothermal system in Ladakh, India, adding ribose increased released boron by approximately 60%.
The reported tests compared minerals in water with and without ribose, but do not establish that this chemical loop occurred on early Earth or produced life.
The study proposes a reciprocal mechanism: ribose can increase dissolved boron, while boron can stabilize ribose. The authors frame it as a possible contribution to origins-of-life chemistry, not evidence that life began through this loop.
A hypothesis about early-Earth chemistry
Ribose is a key sugar in RNA but is chemically fragile. The reported results suggest a feedback loop in which ribose helps keep boron available in water, while boron can help protect ribose; however, the work is a laboratory study and remains a hypothesis about early-Earth chemistry.
Sources
- ScienceAlertScientists Find a Strange Chemical Loop That May Have Helped Life Get StartedRead source →