Solitons and Bioenergetics

Abstract

In recent theoretical¹ and numerical² studies of resonant energy transfer into a Davydov soliton on alpha-helix in protein it was assumed in a general way that hydrolysis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to adenosine diphosphate (ADP) would ultimately lead to soliton formation, thus:

$$ATP + {H_2}O \to ADP + {S_D} + other products$$

((1))

where S_D denotes a Davydov soliton. The details of this reaction will be considered in the present paper. As a starting point for developing these details, we turn to the work of McClare^3–7 who has insisted that biological energy must be resonantly transferred into functional protein, but we give careful consideration to arguments by Davydov⁸ that his soliton cannot directly absorb radiation. To resolve this difficulty we suggest an intermediate state, the proton soliton (S_p) which differs from the Davydov soliton because only the hydrogen bonded proton moves rather than an entire peptide unit. We emphasize that S_p is not a fictional entity: IR absorption by proton solitons in acetanilide has been observed. This is direct radiative transfer from the incident field into an S_p. Finally we posit the relaxation of a photon soliton into a true Davydov soliton.