Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: It is conventionally believed that macromolecules found in living cells, including DNA, RNA, and proteins, do not exhibit inherent light emission. However, recent studies have challenged this concept by demonstrating spontaneous light emission from nucleic acids under certain conditions and physiological temperatures. By noninvasive monitoring of barley genomic DNA and advanced statistical physics analyses, temperature-induced dynamic entropy fluctuations and fractal dimension oscillations were identified at a key organizational threshold. The study revealed evidence for non-equilibrium phase transitions, a noticeable photovoltaic current jump at zero bias voltage, and a proportional increase (scaling) of the photoinduced current corresponding to increasing amounts of DNA. In addition, we estimated DNA's energy production rate at criticality and introduced an interferometer using coherent light emissions from the DNA-water interface. These findings suggest that DNA is a major source of ultraweak photon emission in biological systems.
Source: Scientific Reports
Authors: Mariusz Pietruszka, Marek Marzec
Institution: University of Silesia in Katowice
Language: English
Subfield: Physiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,590
Funder: Narodowe Centrum Nauki
Award: G4583358371
OpenAlex ID: W4404582469