Currently, the study of the mechanical and biological properties of microtubules is relevant. These studies allow us to better understand their significance for the functioning of biosystems. In addition, it also seems relevant to conduct research of the role of quantum effects. The influence of quantum effects on the functioning of biological systems is currently being studied quite widely. So at the moment, their importance in such processes as photosynthesis, charge transfer to DNA has been established. The microtubule is also considered as an object for quantum mechanical research. In the mid-1990s, scientists Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff suggested that the phenomenon of consciousness may depend on coherent quantum processes in the microtubules of neurons, it was suggested that brain activity is associated with the fundamental foundations of quantum mechanics and the geometry of space.
Now it is a reasonable assumption that quantum effects in biosystems can be associated with organized quantum processes in π - electron clouds inside biomolecules. The protein subunits of the tubulins that make up the microtubule have a special arrangement of chromophores - aromatic amino acids that include tryptophans. Each of the tryptophans contains π-electrons and can be considered as a potential well for electrons with a certain energy spectrum. The sequence of tryptophans in the microtubule tubulin creates a complex potential profile in the molecule. Due to the high concentration of π-electrons and the high polarizability of the connected aromatic rings, the amino acid tryptophan is a suitable molecule for energy transfer in microtubules. The crystal-like structure of microtubules makes them attractive candidates for the role of molecules of the medium in which the transmission of quantum excitations occurs. As a result, it can be suggested that tryptophans located in microtubules in geometrically ordered lattices can support a quantum, coherent process of energy transformation. The paper investigates the mechanism of energy transfer in the microtubules of the cell. The Born-Markov formalism is used to describe the irreversible transformation of energy in microtubules. The results obtained in this work allow us to conclude that the process of energy transformation in the microtubule is likely to be excitonic, coherent.
References
[1] Shirmovsky, S.Eh., Shulga, D.V., 2018. Elastic, dipole–dipole interaction and viscosity impact on vibrationalproperties of anisotropic hexagonal microtubule lattice. BioSystems 166, 1–18.
[2] Shirmovsky, S.Eh., Shulga, D.V., 2019. Microtubules lattice equal-frequency maps: The dynamics of relief changes in dependence on elastic properties, tubulins’ dipole–dipole interaction and viscosity. Physica A 534, 122165.
[3] Shirmovsky, S.Eh., Shulga, D.V., 2021. Quantum relaxation effects in Microtubules. Physica A 582, 126254.