Cross-scale interactions in biomolecular information processing

Multiple modes of processing, drawing on interactions at multiple physical scales, contribute to the information processing power of biological systems. Conformational processing is central, since it affords a close coupling of nuclear and electronic coordinates, and hence a closely interleaved classical-nonclassical interface that allows biological systems to draw on the superpositional parallelism of the quantum mechanical wave function. Cells and organisms are pictured as percolation networks that mediate highly selective transductions of information between microscopic and macroscopic forms.