⚛️ What if some DNA mutations weren’t entirely random — but instead emerged from quantum effects at the molecular scale?
Recently, I’ve been reading about the fascinating intersection of quantum physics and genomicsparticularly the idea that proton tunneling across hydrogen bonds in DNA base pairs could underlie certain mutations.
The concept is that, in rare cases, a proton in a base pair (say, between guanine and cytosine) can “tunnel” through the energy barrier within the hydrogen bond, inducing a tautomeric shift. When DNA replicates, this shifted form may pair incorrectly, leading to a mutation born from quantum mechanics.
Some of the mathematical and physical frameworks I’ve been exploring include:
- Quantum tunneling models of proton transfer, emphasizing barrier penetration probabilities from the Schrödinger equation.
- Open quantum systems approaches, which include the influence of the cellular environment (decoherence and dissipation) on the tunneling process.
- Stochastic kinetic models, linking tunneling events to mutation rates, to compare theoretical predictions with observed genomic data.
- Energy landscape and polymer dynamics, modeling DNA as a fluctuating structure where thermal noise and quantum effects intersect to shift mutation probabilities.
What’s so interesting is how these abstract physical frameworks can reproduce features of mutation patterns we actually observe in genomic studies - such as context-dependent substitution rates and the subtle non-randomness of "spontaneous" mutations.
It’s a fascinating reminder that the forces shaping genomes span every scale - from quantum mechanics at atomic levels to evolutionary dynamics across populations.
For a compelling dive into the quantum mechanics behind DNA mutation, check out this paper:
https://lnkd.in/di9Yu4fc
