Department of Physics, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, UAE.
Department of Chemistry, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, UAE.
Sci Rep. 2024 May 27;14(1):12152. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-62670-3.
The spread of the COVID-19 virus has become a global health crisis, and finding effective treatments and preventions is a top priority. The field of quantum biology primarily focuses on energy or charge transfer, with a particular emphasis on photosynthesis. However, there is evidence to suggest that cellular receptors such as olfactory or neural receptors may also use vibration-assisted electron tunnelling to enhance their functions. Quantum tunnelling has also been observed in enzyme activity, which is relevant to the invasion of host cells by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Additionally, COVID-19 appears to disrupt receptors such as olfactory receptors. These findings suggest that quantum effects could provide new insights into the mechanisms of biological systems and disease, including potential treatments for COVID-19. We have applied the open quantum system approach using Quantum State Diffusion to solve the non-linear stochastic Schrödinger equation (SSE) for COVID-19 virus infection. Our model includes the mechanism when the spike protein of the virus binds with an ACE2 receptor is considered as dimer. These two entities form a system and then coupled with the cell membrane, which is modelled as a set of harmonic oscillators (bath). By simulating the SSE, we find that there is vibration-assisted electron tunnelling happening in certain biological parameters and coupling regimes. Furthermore, our model contributes to the ongoing research to understand the fundamental nature of virus dynamics. It proposes that vibration-assisted electron tunneling could be a molecular phenomenon that augments the lock-and-key process for olfaction. This insight may enhance our understanding of the underlying mechanisms governing virus-receptor interactions and could potentially lead to the development of novel therapeutic strategies.
新冠病毒的传播已成为全球健康危机,寻找有效治疗和预防方法是当务之急。量子生物学主要关注能量或电荷转移,特别关注光合作用。然而,有证据表明,细胞受体(如嗅觉或神经受体)也可能利用振动辅助电子隧穿来增强其功能。酶活性中也观察到了量子隧穿,这与 SARS-CoV-2 病毒入侵宿主细胞有关。此外,新冠病毒似乎会破坏嗅觉受体等受体。这些发现表明,量子效应可以为生物系统和疾病的机制提供新的见解,包括新冠病毒的潜在治疗方法。我们应用了量子态扩散的开放量子系统方法来求解 COVID-19 病毒感染的非线性随机薛定谔方程(SSE)。我们的模型包括病毒的刺突蛋白与 ACE2 受体结合时被视为二聚体的机制。这两个实体形成一个系统,然后与细胞膜耦合,细胞膜被建模为一组谐振子(浴)。通过模拟 SSE,我们发现某些生物学参数和耦合状态下存在振动辅助电子隧穿。此外,我们的模型有助于理解病毒动力学的基本性质的持续研究。它提出振动辅助电子隧穿可能是增强嗅觉锁钥过程的分子现象。这一见解可能会增进我们对控制病毒-受体相互作用的基本机制的理解,并可能导致新的治疗策略的发展。