Speculation on Quantum Mechanics and the Operation of Life Giving Catalysts

Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres

Volumn 41, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 35-50

  Haydon, Nathan ^a   McGlynn, Shawn E ^a   Robus, Olin ^a,b  

^a MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON   (United States)

Author keywords

Hydrothermal vents; Metal sulfide catalysis; Origins of life; Pre biotic chemistry; Quantum decoherence

Indexed keywords

CATALYSIS; GENETIC ANALYSIS; HYDROTHERMAL VENT; MEASUREMENT METHOD; METABOLISM; MOLECULAR ANALYSIS; MUTATION; ORIGIN OF LIFE; REACTION KINETICS; SULFIDE;

EID: 78649521267     PISSN: 01696149     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s11084-010-9210-5     Document Type: Article

References (55)

1. Aharonov Y, Vaidman L (2001) The Two-State Vector Formalism of Quantum Mechanics: an Updated Review. arXiv: quant-ph/0105101v2.
2. Andersson K et al (2004) Experimental and theoretical characterization of the structure of defects at the pyrite FeS2(100) surface. Phys Rev B 70(19): 195404.
3. Anglin JR, Paz JP, Zurek WH (1997) Deconstructing decoherence. Phys Rev A 55(6): 4041-4053.
4. Arndt M et al (1999) Wave-particle duality of C60 molecules. Nature 401(6754): 680-682.
5. Ball P (2008) Physics: quantum all the way. Nature 453(7191): 22-25.
6. Beinert H, Kiley PJ (1999) Fe-S proteins in sensing and regulatory functions. Curr Opin Chem Biol 3(2): 152-157.
7. Beinert H, Holm RH, Munck E (1997) Iron-sulfur clusters: nature's modular, multipurpose structures. Science 277(5326): 653-659.
8. Beinert H, Meyer J, Lill R (2004) In: Lennarz WJ, Lane MD (eds) Encyclopedia of biological chemistry, vol 2. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 482-489.
9. Bennett CH, DiVincenzo DP (2000) Quantum information and computation. Nature 404(6775): 247-255.
10. Berrisford DJ, Bolm C, Sharpless KB (1995) Ligand-accelerated catalysis. Angew Chem Int Ed 34(10): 1059-1070.
11. Blume-Kohout R, Zurek WH (2006) Quantum Darwinism: entanglement, branches, and the emergent classicality of redundantly stored quantum information. Phys Rev A 73(6): 062310.
12. Buchanan M (2007) See me here, see me there. Nature 448(7149): 15-17.
13. Cody GD (2004) Transition metal sulfides and the origins of metabolism. Annu Rev Earth Planet Sci 32: 569-599.
14. Collini E et al (2010) Coherently wired light-harvesting in photosynthetic marine algae at ambient temperature. Nature 463(7281): 644-647.
15. Cooper WG (2009) Evidence for transcriptase quantum processing implies entanglement and decoherence of superposition proton states. BioSystems 97(2): 73-89.
16. Davies PCW (2004) Does quantum mechanics play a non-trivial role in life? Biosystems 78(1-3): 69-79.
17. Engel GS et al (2007) Evidence for wavelike energy transfer through quantum coherence in photosynthetic systems. Nature 446(7137): 782-786.
18. Facchi P, Pascazio S (2008) Quantum Zeno dynamics: mathematical and physical aspects. Phys A Math Theor 41(49): 493001.
19. Facchi P et al (2005) Control of decoherence: analysis and comparison of three different strategies. Phys Rev A 71(2): 022302.
20. Genovese M (2003) On DNA molecules as quantum measurement devices. Found Phys Lett 16(5): 505-511.
21. Goldschmidt VM (1952) Geochemical aspects of the origin of complex organic molecules on the Earth, as precursors to organic life. New Biol 12: 97-105.
22. Hackermuller L et al (2003) Wave nature of biomolecules and fluorofullerenes. Phys Rev Lett 91(9): 090408.
23. Home D, Chattopadhyaya R (1996) DNA molecular cousin of Schrodinger's cat: a curious example of quantum measurement. Phys Rev Lett 76(16): 2836-2839.
24. Hosten O, Kwiat P (2008) Observation of the spin Hall effect of light via weak measurements. Science 319(5864): 787-790.
25. Jost JD et al (2009) Entangled mechanical oscillators. Nature 459(7247): 683-685.
26. Koonin EV, Martin W (2005) On the origin of genomes and cells within inorganic compartments. Trends Genet 21(12): 647-654.
27. Martin W, Russell MJ (2003) On the origins of cells: a hypothesis for the evolutionary transitions from abiotic geochemistry to chemoautotrophic prokaryotes, and from prokaryotes to nucleated cells. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 358(1429): 59-83, discussion 83-5.
28. Martin W, Russell MJ (2007) On the origin of biochemistry at an alkaline hydrothermal vent. Philos Trans R Soc B Biol Sci 362(1486): 1887-1925.
29. McFadden J (2001) Quantum evolution, 1st edn. W. W. Norton, New York.
30. McFadden J, Al-Khalili J (1999) A quantum mechanical model of adaptive mutation. Biosystems 50(3): 203-211.
31. McGlynn SE et al (2009) Hydrogenase cluster biosynthesis: organometallic chemistry nature's way. Dalton Trans 22: 4274-4285.
32. Milner-White EJ, Russell MJ (2005) Sites for phosphates and iron-sulfur thiolates in the first membranes: 3-6 residue anion-binding motifs (nests). Orig Life Evol Biosph 35(1): 19-27.
33. Milner-White EJ, Russell MJ (2008) Predicting the conformations of peptides and proteins in early evolution. A review article submitted to Biology Direct. Biol Direct 3: 3.
34. Misra B, Sudarshan ECG (1977) Zenos paradox in quantum-theory. J Math Phys 18(4): 756-763.
35. Murphy R, Strongin DR (2009) Surface reactivity of pyrite and related sulfides. Surf Sci Rep 64(1): 1-45.
36. Ogryzko VV (1997) A quantum-theoretical approach to the phenomenon of directed mutations in bacteria (hypothesis). Biosystems 43(2): 83-95.
37. Ogryzko VV (2008) Erwin Schroedinger, Francis Crick and epigenetic stability. Biol Direct 3: 15.
38. Ollivier H, Poulin D, Zurek WH (2004) Objective properties from subjective quantum states: environment as a witness. Phys Rev Lett 93(22): 220401.
39. Patel A (2001) Quantum algorithms and the genetic code. Pramana J Phys 56(2-3): 367-381.
40. Quandt-Wiese G (2009) Quantum state reduction by a physical interaction between the states and its perspective for biology. Available at: http://www. neuroquantology. com/journal/index. php/nq/article/view/323 [Accessed January 31, 2010].
41. Rieper E et al (2009) Quantum coherence and entanglement in the avian compass. arXiv: 0906. 3725v3.
42. Russell MJ (2007) The alkaline solution to the emergence of life: Energy, entropy and early evolution. Acta Biotheor 55(2): 133-179.
43. Russell MJ, Hall AJ, Turner D (1989) In vitro growth of iron sulphide chimneys: possible culture chambers for origin-of-life experiments. Terra Nova 1(3): 238-241.
44. Russell MJ et al (1994) A hydrothermally precipitated catalytic iron sulphide membrane as a first step toward life. J Mol Evol 39(3): 231-243.
45. Schlosshauer MA (2007) Decoherence and the quantum-to-classical transition. Springer, Berlin.
46. Schoonen MAA, Xu Y, Strongin DR (1998) An introduction to geocatalysis. J Geochem Explor 62(1-3): 201-215.
47. Somorjai GA (1994) Introduction to surface chemistry and catalysis. Wiley, New York.
48. Stirling A, Bernasconi M, Parrinello M (2003) Ab initio simulation of H2S adsorption on the (100) surface of pyrite. J Chem Phys 119(9): 4934-4939.
49. Strongin DR et al (1987) The importance of C-7 sites and surface-roughness in the ammonia-synthesis reaction over iron. J Catal 103(1): 213-215.
50. Vedral V (2003) Quantum physics-Entanglement hits the big time. Nature 425(6953): 28-29.
51. Wachtershauser G (2007) On the chemistry and evolution of the pioneer organism. Chem Biodivers 4(4): 584-602.
52. Wicken JS (1980) A thermodynamic theory of evolution. J Theor Biol 87(1): 9-23.
53. Zurek WH (2003) Decoherence and the transition from quantum to classical-Revisited. arXiv: quant-ph/0306072v1.
54. Zurek WH, Paz JP (2000) Environment-induced decoherence and the transition from quantum to classical. arXiv. org arXiv: quant-ph/0010011v1.
55. Zurek WH, Habib S, Paz JP (1993) Coherent states via decoherence. Phys Rev Lett 70(9): 1187-1190.