alt Hacker NewsI don't see any reason for the source molecules to come from space. We already know that nucleotides will spontaneously form and polymerize in conditions consistent with the early earth, and a meteorite origin just moves the source of those nucleotides elsewhere but doesn't answer how they formed.
Replies
space has been around for a lot longer than earth, its possible that inter planetary generation of nucleic acids may be primarily a matter of chemistry.
Nucleobase synthesis in interstellar ices[2019]
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-12404-1?error=ser...
Chemistry of Abiotic Nucleotide Synthesis[2020]
It's possible (proto-)life evolved in the pre-Earth protoplanetary disk.
If so, life might not require a special snowflake planet like Earth to develop. Development could be solar system-wide, and common in other early solar systems.
Delivery by meteorites isn't necessarily the only or even primary source, but the fact is that it is a source we can directly observe, and it is a sufficient source. Earth's primordial chemistry likely did create more, but the existence of those conditions is theoretical, and such additional production need not be invoked to explain the needed level of abundance. Even a world with very different conditions from primordial Earth would likewise receive vast quantities of nucleotide during its formation and continuous replenishment afterwards.