Enzymes, which are crucial to controlling how cells replicate in the human body, could be the very ingredient that encourages DNA to spontaneously mutate—causing potentially permanent genetic errors, according to new research from the University of Surrey. The paper is published in Communications Chemistry.
Enzymes, which are crucial to controlling how cells replicate in the human body, could be the very ingredient that encourages DNA to spontaneously mutate—causing potentially permanent genetic errors, according to new research from the University of Surrey. The paper is published in Communications Chemistry.
Using state-of-the-art quantum chemical calculations, researchers from Surrey’s Quantum Biology Doctoral Training Center have found that the part of the process by which DNA replicates itself happens at speeds 100 times faster than previously predicted. This finding sheds new light on the assumed theory that suggests quantum effects would not survive long enough to be impacted by the replication process.
Max Winokan, a co-author of the study from the University of Surrey, said, “We always thought that quantum mechanics would suffer in a biological environment. However, it was fascinating to find that the mutations caused by quantum tunneling are more stable due to the action of the enzyme, helicase.
