論文出處：
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-02905-7
光譜特徵分析：
https://i.urusai.cc/zDHtF.jpg
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) before meteoritic parent-body
formation. However, no sugar has been observed in the ISM so far. Here we
report the discovery of erythrulose, a chiral four-carbon ketose, in the ISM.
The detection was achieved through ultrasensitive, broadband spectral surveys
of the Galactic Centre molecular cloud G+0.693.027, using the Yebes 40
and IRAM 30 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.
醣類是重要的生物分子，它們作為代謝燃料、核酸骨架成分以及結構或能量儲存聚合物發
揮作用。生命起源研究的核心問題之一是原始地球上單醣是如何形成的，因為在生命起源
前的實驗室條件下進行的實驗無法獲得足夠濃度的單醣。在小行星和隕石中檢測到核糖、
葡萄糖和其他單醣顯示它們可能起源於外源，或許是在隕石母體形成之前的星際介質（
ISM）中。然而，迄今為止，尚未在星際介質中觀測到任何醣類。
本文報導了在星際介質中發現赤藻醣酮糖，一種手性四碳酮糖。這項發現是透過使用
耶貝斯40公尺望遠鏡和IRAM 30公尺望遠鏡對銀河系中心分子雲G+0.693.027進行超靈敏
寬頻光譜巡天觀測實現的。
赤藻醣酮糖的豐度似乎至少是類似三碳糖的八倍，而後者在我們的超靈敏觀測中仍然
未被偵測到。量子化學和天文化學模型表明，赤藻醣酮糖能夠高效地在星際塵埃顆粒上
由簡單的雙碳醛和醇轉化而來。由於酮糖在水溶液中易異構化為醛糖，星際赤藻醣酮糖可
能為早期代謝和複製過程提供了糖分來源。