Structure of cellular membranes. (A) Schematic view of a cell. (B) Zoom-in view of the cell membrane, formed by a phospholipid bilayer. (C) Three-dimensional structure of the phospholipid PE, formed by a hydrophilic head composed of EtA, a phosphate group linked to glycerol, and two hydrophobic fatty-acid tails (black, red, blue, and white balls denote carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen atoms, respectively). (D) EtA, the molecular species detected in space and reported in this work.