Detection of a four-carbon sugar in interstellar space
Izaskun Jimenez-Serra, Juan Garcia de la Concepcion, Herma M. Cuppen, Marta Rey-Montejo, Miguel Sanz-Novo, Victor M. Rivilla, Jesus Martin-Pintado, Andres Megias, Carlos Briones, David San Andres, Laura Colzi, Shaoshan Zeng, Sergio Martin, Joseph Salaris, Antonio Martinez-Henares, Alvaro Lopez-Gallifa, Miguel Requena-Torres, Belen Tercero, Pablo de Vicente, Aran Insausti, Elena R. Alonso, Emilio J. Cocinero
Centro de Astrobiologia · University of Extremadura, Spain · Radboud University, The Netherlands · Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain · Max-Planck-Institut fur extraterrestrische Physik, Germany · Centro de Astrobiologia · Centro de Astrobiologia · Centro de Astrobiologia · Centro de Astrobiologia · Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain · Centro de Astrobiologia · RIKEN, Japan · Joint ALMA Observatory, Chile · Radboud University, The Netherlands · RIKEN, Japan · Centro de Astrobiologia · Towson University, USA · Observatorio de Yebes · Observatorio de Yebes · Instituto Biofisika · Universidad de Valladolid, Spain · Instituto Biofisika
astro-ph.GA, astro-ph.EP, astro-ph.SR
Submitted: 2026-06-02
Comments: Submitted to Nature Astronomy
Code: https://github.com/andresmegias/gildas-class-python
Project page: https://uclchem.github.io
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The gist: Sugars are essential biomolecules, serving as metabolic fuels, nucleic acid backbone components, and structural or energy-storage polymers.
Terminology
Abstract
Sugars are essential biomolecules, serving as metabolic fuels, nucleic acid backbone components, and structural or energy-storage polymers. A central question in origin-of-life research is how monosaccharides formed on the primitive Earth, as laboratory experiments under prebiotic conditions yield insufficient concentrations. The detection of ribose, glucose and other monosaccharides in asteroids and meteorites suggests an exogenous origin, possibly in the interstellar medium (ISM) prior to meteoritic parent-body formation. However, no sugar has been observed in the ISM so far. We report the discovery of erythrulose, a chiral four-carbon ketose, in the ISM. The detection has been achieved thanks to ultrasensitive, broadband spectral surveys toward the Galactic Center molecular cloud G+0.693-0.027 obtained using the Yebes 40m and IRAM 30m telescopes. Erythrulose appears to be at least eight times more abundant than analogous three-carbon sugars, which remain undetected in our ultrasensitive observations. Quantum chemical and astrochemical models indicate that erythrulose forms efficiently on interstellar dust grains from simpler two-carbon aldehydes and alcohols. As ketoses readily isomerize into aldoses in aqueous conditions, interstellar erythrulose could have contributed to the sugar inventory available for early metabolic and replication processes.
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