Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 23, 2025
09:53
Single-Molecule Dwell-Time Analysis of Restriction Endonuclease-Mediated DNA Cleavage
Published on: February 7, 2021
1.8K
Effects of environmental noise on quantum charge diffusion in DNA sequences
Mirko Rossini1,2, Ole Ammerpohl3, Reiner Siebert4,3
1Ulm University, Institute for Complex Quantum Systems, 89069, Ulm, Germany. mirko.rossini@uni-ulm.de.
Scientific Reports
|May 20, 2025
Summary
Quantum effects enable charge delocalization in DNA, even in noisy cellular environments. Spatially correlated fluctuations can sustain coherent charge transfer, suggesting non-classical charge dynamics in biological systems.
Area of Science:
- Quantum biology
- Biophysics
- Molecular electronics
Background:
- Charge fluctuations in DNA are crucial for repair and replication.
- Classical charge transfer is understood, but quantum effects like π-orbital overlap enable charge delocalization.
- The cellular environment (water, noise) is thought to cause decoherence, limiting quantum transport.
Purpose of the Study:
- To model quantum diffusion in DNA-inspired lattices under noisy conditions.
- To investigate charge mobility considering intrinsic and environmental fluctuations.
- To explore the role of quantum phenomena in DNA charge transport.
Main Methods:
- Modeling quantum diffusion in 2D tight-binding lattices.
- Atomistic parametrization to represent DNA structure.
- Inclusion of intrinsic and environmental fluctuations (noise and disorder).
Main Results:
- Identified a complex network of charge transport pathways in DNA.
- Demonstrated that long-range quantum phenomena depend on carrier type, base sequence, and noise characteristics.
- Showed that correlated low-frequency fluctuations sustain coherence, while moderate noise can enhance it via tunneling.
Conclusions:
- DNA structure can support non-classical charge dynamics even under physiological conditions.
- Quantum charge transport in DNA is influenced by environmental factors.
- Findings offer insights into DNA bioelectronics and inspire future quantum transport models in biology.
Related Concept Videos
01:05Maxam-Gilbert Sequencing
10.8K
In the same year as the discovery of the Sanger sequencing method, another group of scientists, Allan Maxam and Walter Gilbert, demonstrated their chemical-cleavage method for DNA sequencing. The Maxam-Gilbert method relies on using different chemicals that can cleave the DNA sequence at specific sites, the separation of resulting DNA fragments of variable size using electrophoresis, and deciphering the DNA sequence from the resulting gel bands.
Challenges of the Maxam-Gilbert Method
The...
Challenges of the Maxam-Gilbert Method
The...
10.8K
03:00Next-generation Sequencing
86.8K
The first human genome sequencing project cost $2.7 billion and was declared complete in 2003, after 15 years of international cooperation and collaboration between several research teams and funding agencies. Today, with the advent of next-generation sequencing technologies, the cost and time of sequencing a human genome have dropped over 100 fold.
Next-Generation Sequencing Methods
Although all next-generation methods use different technologies, they all share a set of standard features....
Next-Generation Sequencing Methods
Although all next-generation methods use different technologies, they all share a set of standard features....
86.8K
01:57Sanger Sequencing
752.1K
DNA sequencing is a fundamental technique that is routinely used in the biological sciences. This method can be applied to a range of questions at different scales - from the sequencing of a cloned DNA fragment or the study of a mutation in a gene up to whole-genome sequencing. However, despite the widespread use of sequencing today, it was not until 1977 that Fredrick Sanger and his collaborators developed the chain-termination method to decode DNA sequences. It relies on the separation of a...
752.1K
02:25Overview of DNA Repair
29.9K
In order to be passed through generations, genomic DNA must be undamaged and error-free. However, every day, DNA in a cell undergoes several thousand to a million damaging events by natural causes and external factors. Ionizing radiation such as UV rays, free radicals produced during cellular respiration, and hydrolytic damage from metabolic reactions can alter the structure of DNA. Damages caused include single-base alteration, base dimerization, chain breaks, and cross-linkage.
Chemically...
Chemically...
29.9K
01:02¹H NMR: Interpreting Distorted and Overlapping Signals
986
Spin systems where the difference in chemical shifts of the coupled nuclei is greater than ten times J are called first-order spin systems. These nuclei are weakly coupled, and their chemical shifts and coupling constant can generally be estimated from the well-separated signals in the spectrum.
As Δν decreases and the signals move closer, the doublets appear increasingly distorted. The intensities of the inner lines increase at the cost of those of the outer lines as the signals are...
As Δν decreases and the signals move closer, the doublets appear increasingly distorted. The intensities of the inner lines increase at the cost of those of the outer lines as the signals are...
986