Abstract
The soliton model proposed by Davydov1 for energy transport in biological molecules is an important application of ideas from solid state theory to biological processes at the molecular level. It yields a compelling picture for the mechanism of energy transport in the α-helical protein molecule and consequently has been the subject of a large body of work.2 However there has been controversy in recent years concerning whether the Davydov soliton is sufficiently stable at physiological temperatures to provide a viable explanation for energy transport. Since there seems to be wide agreement on the appropriate values for the parameters of the model for the α-helical protein application, it should be possible to resolve this question.
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References
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Schweitzer, J.W., Cottingham, J.P. (1990). Perturbation Estimate of the Lifetime of the Davydov Soliton at 300K. In: Christiansen, P.L., Scott, A.C. (eds) Davydov’s Soliton Revisited. NATO ASI Series, vol 243. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9948-4_21
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9948-4_21
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