5 Key Takeaways

• 1

  Sulfur-containing biomolecules are crucial for modern metabolism and their prebiotic availability has been uncertain in prebiotic chemistry.

• 2

  Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder simulated early Earth atmospheric conditions to identify diverse organosulfur compounds.

• 3

  The study estimated that atmospheric chemistry could produce enough cysteine annually to support a budding global ecosystem.

• 4

  Collaboration among interdisciplinary team members was essential for overcoming challenges in measuring and analyzing sulfur compounds.

• 5

  Findings suggest that life may have had access to sulfur biomolecules at its origin, challenging previous assumptions about early biochemical evolution.