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Abiotic generation of a source of ammonia, together with saponite’s proposed catalysis of heterocyclic-amine molecules such as tryptophan, also raises the possibility of abiotic synthesis of other heterocyclic amines called pyrimidines and purines, which are components of the nucleic acids DNA and RNA.

Moreover, saponite has the potential to promote the formation of organic polymers15,16.

Ménez and colleagues propose that saponite, an iron-containing clay mineral that they detected, and which is reported14 to be a catalyst for the synthesis of organic compounds and the reduction of N2 to ammonia, might be involved in tryptophan synthesis.