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Necessity of Quantum Coherence to Account for the Spectrum of Time-Dependent Mutations Exhibited by Bacteriophage T4

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Abstract

Transcriptase measurements of quantum expectations due to time-dependent coherent states populating informational DNA base-pair sites, designated by G–C → *G–*C, G–C → G′–C′, and A–T → *A–*T, provide a model for transcription and replication of time-dependent DNA lesions exhibited by bacteriophage T4. Coherent states are introduced as consequences of hydrogen bond arrangement, keto-amino → enol-imine, where product protons are shared between two sets of indistinguishable electron lone-pairs and thus participate in coupled quantum oscillations at frequencies of ~1013 s−1. The transcriptase deciphers and executes genetic specificity instructions by implementing measurements on superposition proton states at *G–*C, G′–C′, and *A–*T sites in an interval Δt ≪ 10−13 s. Decohered states participate in Topal–Fresco replication, which introduces substitutions *C → T, *G → A, G′ → T, and G′ → C, but superposition *A–*T states are deleted. These results imply an evolutionary shift favoring A–T richness.

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Acknowledgments

Insightful questions and discussions by Altonie Barber and Nikolay Sarychev are sincerely appreciated. I am grateful to an anonymous reviewer for calling my attention to an important reference and for identifying quantum coherence and decoherence as central issues in this report.

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  1. International Physics Health and Energy, Inc., 5109 82nd Street, Suite 7, Lubbock, TX, 79424, USA

    W. Grant Cooper

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Correspondence to W. Grant Cooper.

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Cooper, W.G. Necessity of Quantum Coherence to Account for the Spectrum of Time-Dependent Mutations Exhibited by Bacteriophage T4. Biochem Genet 47, 892–910 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10528-009-9293-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10528-009-9293-8

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