The Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction as a Driver of Homochirality and DNA Fidelity
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: The origin of biological homochirality remains an unresolvedchallenge in abiogenesis. While traditional models rely on stochasticfluctuations or cosmic radiation to break the 50-50 racemic symmetry,we propose a deterministic physical mechanism rooted in non-collinearmagnetism. We show that the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI)—an asymmetric, anisotropic exchange coupling mediated by spin-orbitcoupling in environments with broken inversion symmetry—acted asthe fundamental prebiotic chiral selector. Given the geochemical abun-dance of transition metals, particularly iron (Fe2+ /Fe3+ ), in the Archeanenvironment, coordinated organic precursors experienced a directionalmagnetic torque that preferentially stabilized the D-sugar configuration,seeding the right-handed helicity of proto-nucleic acids. Furthermore,we demonstrate that this helicity conservation is actively preservedin modern biology, where DMI-like topological constraints stabilize thedouble helix to maintain high-fidelity transcription and replication. Weresolve the common objection regarding ambient thermal noise bymodeling the DNA backbone as a cooperative, non-equilibrium quantumspin chain where vibrationally-mediated DMI overcomes thermodynamicchaos. We explicitly distinguish this structural mechanism from transientradical pair interactions. Finally, we show how this win-win frameworkprovides a concrete engineering blueprint for zero-power chiral molecu-lar spintronic processors.
Author: Onisan, Aristide
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7221672777
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