A team of scientists from the University of Surrey has shown that the hydrogen atoms that bind the two strands of the DNA molecule between the
Two strands of the DNA double helix connectedhydrogen bonds - protons (the nuclei of hydrogen atoms) hold the parts of the molecule together like glue. Normally, the four bases of DNA (A, C, T, and G) follow strict rules: adenine always binds to thymine, and cytosine always binds to guanine. Such connectivity is maintained by the shape of the proteins, which fit together like pieces of a puzzle in a jigsaw puzzle, the researchers note.
In their work, scientists have shown that cellularthe environment causes the protons, which behave like propagating waves, to be thermally activated and overcome the energy barrier. The study demonstrated that protons move continuously and very quickly between the two chains. As a result, when DNA is split into separate strands, some of the protons are on the wrong side, which leads to an error, the authors of the work say.
Protons in DNA can tunnel alonghydrogen bonds in DNA and modify the bases that code for genetic information. Modified bases are called "tautomers" and can survive DNA cleavage and replication, causing "transcriptional errors" or mutations.
Louis Slocombe, professor at the Leverhulme Quantum Biology Doctoral Training Center at the University of Surrey and co-author of the study
The researchers note that the influence of quantum effects on the interaction of DNA elements was predicted by Crick and Watson in the middle of the last century.But until now, no one has been able to confirm these effects.In addition, the authors of the new work say that this modification of the connections between DNA strands is much more common than previously thought.Protons can easily jump from their usual place on one side of the energy barrier and land on the other side.
"Biologists generally expect tunneling to beplay a significant role only at low temperatures and in relatively simple systems. Therefore, they generally did not take into account quantum effects in DNA. We believe that in our study, we have proven that these assumptions are wrong,” says Dr. Marco Sacchi, co-author of the study from the University of Surrey.
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