[Quantum theory of the hydrogen key in DNA]

A quantum theory of the redistribution of the hydrogen atom that links nucleotide bases between two DNA strands at the moment of its untwisting has been advanced, which is based on two tunneling mechanisms: the Andreev-Meierovich mechanism of tunneling with spontaneous emission of a phonon and the Kagan-Maksimov mechanism of tunneling during the scattering of the phonon. It was shown that the probability for the hydrogen atom to be in a foreign pit, i.e., in the mutated form, decreases as the rate of untwisting increases. According to the model, the probability of mutation smoothly increases with temperature to a value of 1/2.