toastywombel Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 “This is quantum mechanics in a biological system,” says study coauthor Gregory Scholes, a physical chemist at the University of Toronto. Check it out! Merged post follows: Consecutive posts mergedI have to say I am quite surprised not many people are interested in commenting on this article . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horza2002 Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 I thought something like this had been known to go on for a while...but maybe I'm wrong. I know that often H+ in enzymes tunnel between enzyme and substrate in a lot of enzymes in biological systems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narroo Posted July 10, 2010 Share Posted July 10, 2010 I thought something like this had been known to go on for a while...but maybe I'm wrong. I know that often H+ in enzymes tunnel between enzyme and substrate in a lot of enzymes in biological systems. I thought so too. Isn't that why it's green? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greippi Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 (edited) This is very interesting. One of the main developing fields in photosynthesis research is mapping out how the photosynthetic machinery arrange themselves on the photosynthetic membrane (using techniques such as AFM; couple of references below if anyone's interested). The arrangement has implications for the high efficiency of the system even if a component is knocked out. This quantum idea makes the picture fall in to place a lot more - exciting stuff! Sener MK, Olsen JD, Hunter CN, and Schulten K (2007) Atomic level structural and functional model of a bacterial photosynthetic membrane vesicle . PNAS USA 104, 15723-15728 Dror Noy (2008) Natural photosystems from an engineer’s perspective: length, time, and energy scales of charge and energy transfer. Photosynthesis Research 95:23–35 And here's the reference to the original Nature paper the article was based on: Nature 463, 614-615 Edited July 23, 2010 by Greippi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmydasaint Posted July 24, 2010 Share Posted July 24, 2010 Great find. I have read something similar about bacteriochlorophyll. However, can someone explain this quote to me, because I don't understand it. These long-lasting quantum effects may help explain the mystery of why the initial electron-moving reactions in photosynthesis are so efficient. In an extreme version of the algae’s quantum-mechanical trick, electrons could simultaneously take all the possible paths to a photosystem and decide after they arrived which route was best. “That vibrating electron could put some feelers out and see which path to take,” Scholes says. Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darthoper Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 Not to take away from this article and I know its of topic... but please post one more time for the counts sake... ;P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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