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August 19, 2019

Proto-nucleobase and a nucleobase

For research on the possible origins of life chemicals on early Earth, Georgia Tech researchers used a base molecule called a proto-nucleobase (seen here next to a nucleobase), highly suspected to be precursors of nucleobases, the main components that transport genetic code in today’s RNA.

[Research supported by National Science Foundation grant CHE 1504217.]

To learn more about this research, see the Georgia Tech news story The helix, of DNA fame, may have arisen with startling ease. (Date image taken: unknown; date originally posted to NSF Multimedia Gallery: Aug. 19, 2019)

Credit: Georgia Tech/Fitrah Hamid


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