New research from Scripps Research offers a fresh look at why nature may have chosen ribose as RNA’s sugar backbone—hinting at how life’s essential molecules formed before biology even began.

In modern cells, enzymes carefully construct complex molecules like RNA and DNA. But what happened billions of years ago, when life had yet to evolve? Why did ribose, and not some other sugar, become the key component of RNA?

Figure 1. RNA's Origins.

A study published in Angewandte Chemie sheds light on this mystery. The Scripps team discovered that ribose naturally bonds with phosphate—a critical RNA component—more quickly and efficiently than similar sugars. This chemical advantage might explain why ribose was selected as life’s molecular scaffold in prebiotic Earth conditions.

“This supports the idea that early, enzyme-free chemistry could have formed RNA building blocks—potentially leading to life-like systems,” explains lead researcher Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy, a chemistry professor at Scripps. Figure 1 represents RNA’s Origins.

What’s So Special About Ribose?

Nucleotides—the pieces that make up RNA and DNA—are composed of a sugar (like ribose), a phosphate group, and a nitrogenous base (A, C, G, or U). Krishnamurthy’s study focused on phosphorylation; the step were ribose links with phosphate. The team’s findings suggest ribose wasn’t just a random pick—but a chemically favored one.

New research from Scripps Research offers a fresh look at why nature may have chosen ribose as RNA’s sugar backbone—hinting at how life’s essential molecules formed before biology even began.

In modern cells, enzymes carefully construct complex molecules like RNA and DNA. But what happened billions of years ago, when life had yet to evolve? Why did ribose, and not some other sugar, become the key component of RNA?

A study published in Angewandte Chemie sheds light on this mystery. The Scripps team discovered that ribose naturally bonds with phosphate—a critical RNA component—more quickly and efficiently than similar sugars [1]. This chemical advantage might explain why ribose was selected as life’s molecular scaffold in prebiotic Earth conditions.

“This supports the idea that early, enzyme-free chemistry could have formed RNA building blocks—potentially leading to life-like systems,” explains lead researcher Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy, a chemistry professor at Scripps.

What’s So Special About Ribose?

Nucleotides—the pieces that make up RNA and DNA—are composed of a sugar (like ribose), a phosphate group, and a nitrogenous base (A, C, G, or U). Krishnamurthy’s study focused on phosphorylation, the step where ribose links with phosphate. The team’s findings suggest ribose wasn’t just a random pick—but a chemically favored one.

References:

1. https://scitechdaily.com/where-did-rna-come-from-scientists-find-a-chemical-clue/

Cite this article:

Keerthana S (2025), Unlocking RNA's Origins: A Chemical Clue Discovered, AnaTechMaz, pp.446