Electronic processes in biology

Abstract

The growing similarities between modern microelectronic circuits and living systems increasingly suggest the electronic nature of the latter. Indeed, the ideas of quantum-mechanical electron tunnelling or hopping between localised states developed in physics to explain conduction in non-crystalline solids are readily applicable to biology. Electron tunnelling transitions between energy states localized in biomolecules can explain such vital processes as photosynthesis, respiration and visual reception, and also form a logical framework to explain reactions induced by high energy radiolysis. It is suggested that there is sufficient evidence to support an argument that the same quantum-mechanical tunnelling process will occur through the localised states set up in biopolymers such as the proteins. The consequence would be highly vectorial electron transport along biopolymer pathways, the results of which are shown to have far-reaching implications. There is considerable difficulty in verifying these ideas experimentally and progress has been slow, but it is very probable that electronic physics is now poised to provide a framework for a new understanding of biology.