Quantum Biology: An Update and Perspective

Abstract

Understanding the rules of life is one of the most important scientific endeavours and has revolutionised both biology and biotechnology. Remarkable advances in observation techniques allow us to investigate a broad range of complex and dynamic biological processes in which living systems could exploit quantum behaviour to enhance and regulate biological functions. Recent evidence suggests that these non-trivial quantum mechanical effects may play a crucial role in maintaining the non-equilibrium state of biomolecular systems. Quantum biology is the study of such quantum aspects of living systems. In this review, we summarise the latest progress in quantum biology, including the areas of enzyme-catalysed reactions, photosynthesis, spin-dependent reactions, DNA, fluorescent proteins, and ion channels. Many of these results are expected to be fundamental building blocks towards understanding the rules of life.

Quantum and classical effects in DNA point mutations: Watson–Crick tautomerism in AT and GC base pairs

“…53 For this model we also assume, as previously observed, 31,36 by that the two protons undergo an asynchronous transfer, that is the rate-determining step is the passage of a single proton across the barrier, with the other proton transferring to preserve electroneutrality. We employ a grid of 2 11 spacial elements describing the reaction coordinate and set the effective mass of the tunnelling wave packet to that of a proton (1836 a.u., Hartree atomic units). The initial Gaussian takes the form,…”

“…As highlighted in a recent review, 11 several previous studies have reported the minimum energy path of the proton transfer reaction from the canonical to the base pairs' tautomeric state. The conclusions drawn in these works vary because of the substantial differences in the computational methods applied to calculate the system energy along the reaction path.…”

Entangled radicals may explain lithium effects on hyperactivity

“…Over the past decades, it has been proposed that that quantum physics could help answer unsolved questions in life science 29 – 31 . The above-described Radical Pair Mechanism (RPM) is one of the most well-established models in quantum biology; it could give a promising explanation for how migratory birds can navigate by means of Earth’s magnetic field 32 , 33 .…”

Downstream Signalling from Molecular Hydrogen

“…It was suggested that biological processes may occur due to quantum mechanical effects. A more recent review on this topic was also published [129].…”