Quantum theory of hydrogen key of point mutation in DNA

BioPhysics, Issue 2, (2011) 3 Quantum theory of hydrogen atoms distribution between two complementary nucleotide bases in DNA double helix at moment of replication has been proposed in this work. It bases on two mechanisms of proton tunneling: the Andreev-Meyerovich mechanism with spontaneous phonon radiation and the Kagan-Maximov (Flynn-Stoneham) mechanism at phonon scattering. According to the presented model, the probability of proton location in shallow potential well (point mutation form) is directly proportional to temperature. It was shown that the point mutation probability decreases with increasing replication velocity.