2021-06-25 NITheCS & QRG@UKZN Webinar: Ismael Galván, The quantum basis of organic evolution

The quantum basis of organic evolution

Dr Ismael Galván
(Department of Evolutionary Ecology, National Museum of Natural Sciences, CSIC, Madrid, Spain)

Mechanisms occurring at the atomic level are now known to drive processes essential for life, as revealed by quantum effects on biochemical reactions of metabolism. Some macroscopic characteristics of organisms may thus show an atomic imprint. Here I propose that this imprint may be transferred across organisms and affect their evolution independently of the genetic code. This may elucidate the appearance of two animal innovations with an unclear evolutionary origin: migratory behavior and flight ability. These traits may be mediated by quantum processes in two proteins: a radical pair mechanism in retinal cryptochrome providing essential magnetic orientation for migration, and quantum tunnelling in mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase (CcO) providing the high aerobic capacity required for powered flight. Isotopes affect the performance of quantum processes, which may thus depend on cryptochrome and CcO isotopic compositions. I propose to test if animals have species-specific isotopic compositions in their constituent biomolecules, and if this explains why migratory behavior and flight ability has appeared only in certain species. These hypotheses may be tested by quantum mechanical modelling isotopic effects on radical pair mechanisms and quantum tunnelling. This should be combined with experimental determinations of cryptochrome and CcO isotopic compositions, to be compared between migrant vs. non-migrant and flying vs. flightless birds and mammals. This may represent a connexion between the mineral and the organic world that we could start to explore. With this aim, I propose to identify additional biological processes whose functioning may essentially be quantum and that may be key for the advance of quantum biology.