glycine

Glycine (Gly or G) is the smallest of the twenty amino acids commonly found in proteins, with formula NH₂CH₂COOH. Glycine is biosynthesized in the body and is not essential to diet. It has been discovered in meteorites and comets. Some believe it present in the interstellar medium (ISM) and similar molecules have been observed in molecular clouds. This glycine from off Earth is generally presumed to be abiotic, but its existence does show that abiotic processes produce some of the complex molecules that life depends upon.