Quantifying electron transfer reactions in biological systems: what interactions
play the major role?
#MMPMID26689792
Sjulstok E
; Olsen JM
; Solov'yov IA
Sci Rep
2015[Dec]; 5
(?): 18446
PMID26689792
show ga
Various biological processes involve the conversion of energy into forms that are
usable for chemical transformations and are quantum mechanical in nature. Such
processes involve light absorption, excited electronic states formation,
excitation energy transfer, electrons and protons tunnelling which for example
occur in photosynthesis, cellular respiration, DNA repair, and possibly magnetic
field sensing. Quantum biology uses computation to model biological interactions
in light of quantum mechanical effects and has primarily developed over the past
decade as a result of convergence between quantum physics and biology. In this
paper we consider electron transfer in biological processes, from a theoretical
view-point; namely in terms of quantum mechanical and semi-classical models. We
systematically characterize the interactions between the moving electron and its
biological environment to deduce the driving force for the electron transfer
reaction and to establish those interactions that play the major role in
propelling the electron. The suggested approach is seen as a general recipe to
treat electron transfer events in biological systems computationally, and we
utilize it to describe specifically the electron transfer reactions in
Arabidopsis thaliana cryptochrome-a signaling photoreceptor protein that became
attractive recently due to its possible function as a biological magnetoreceptor.
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