NUMEV Seminar: “Long-distance Electrodynamic Interactions Among Biomolecules” by Marco Pettini

Saint Priest Campus, Building 2, Moreau Lecture Hall – 860 Rue de Saint-Priest, 34090 Montpellier.

The NUMEV Seminars are open to a wide audience of researchers from all disciplines who wish to learn more about the current research areas of the NUMEV-MIPS community (Mathematics, Computer Science, Physics, and Systems) or about opportunities to develop their skills and expertise.

Long-range electrodynamic interactions among biomolecules

By Marco Pettini, Center for Theoretical Physics and Aix-Marseille University Luminy, Marseille, France

Abstract

In the first part of this talk, I will discuss the theoretical and experimental findings regarding the activation of out-of-equilibrium collective oscillations in a macromolecule as a classical phonon condensation phenomenon.

In the second part of the talk, I will present the results of two other recent and independent experiments which, based on two different physical effects detected by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy and terahertz spectroscopy, respectively, demonstrate the activation of resonant electrodynamic intermolecular forces acting over long distances. The activation of these long-range/long-distance electrodynamic interactions among biomolecules (proteins) is a consequence of the activation of the out-of-equilibrium collective molecular oscillations discussed in the first part of the talk. The existence of these forces was predicted by both classical and quantum electrodynamics; however, they have never been experimentally observed until now.

The discovery of these new forces acting between biomolecules could have a significant impact on our understanding of the dynamics and functioning of the molecular machines at work in living organisms. In fact, it has been found that the model proteins used can attract each other from a distance of up to 1,000 angstroms, which is far greater than all other intermolecular interactions typically considered to occur in living matter. In addition to thermal fluctuations that drive random molecular motion, these resonant (and thus selective) electrodynamic forces may contribute to molecular interactions in the crowded cellular environment.

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