“These results prove that prebiotic sugar synthesis may have overlaps with extant biochemical pathways.” Given that sugars are ubiquitous in modern metabolism, the proposed reaction network could have been important for the emergence of the first life-like systems.

The findings of this study are important in the context of astrochemistry and astrobiology. Aldonates were found abundantly in the Murchison meteorite, a famous carbonaceous meteorite that fell to Earth in 1969.

In contrast, the canonical carbohydrates found in modern biological systems were absent in it. This implies that aldonates can form and accumulate in extraterrestrial conditions, and the present study suggests that they could play an important role in the origin of the building blocks of life.