Rédiger un PREreview

In addition to the electrogenic microorganisms, e.g. bacteria, that can be found in communities that are wired together in circuits carrying electrons in and out of biological cells, there are wireless connections between micro-organisms that pass information to one another at a distance in virtue of electromagnetic signals. One needs electromagnetic antennae to send or receive signals as they pass information back and forth between living microorganisms. We here discuss the properties of DNA and RNA long polymer molecules regarding their utility as antennae. As well as emitting or absorbing radiation photons these antennae also emit and absorb phonons, i.e. acoustic signals. The coupling between sound waves and electromagnetic waves is very appreciable due to and described by biological piezoelectricity. Biological phases of condensed matter also exhibit chiral symmetry breaking, i.e. “handedness” symmetry breaking, between right- and left-handed electronic states. Describing two spin components (say up and down) times two chirality components (say left and right) ultimately requires four component electron wave functions as discovered by Dirac even if the electrons are moving at velocities much less than light speed. Coupled with the quasi-one dimensional nature of long polymer molecules this yields bound Bose condensed bound particle-hole pairs constituting a Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid similar in some ways to the Bardeen-Cooper-Schriefer Bose condensed bound electron pairs found in superconductors. One similarity is that transport weak links in the Bose condensate fluid flow yield Josephson effects described by a quantum pendulum, e.g. a sine Gordon field theory. The coherent phase in the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid is the difference between the right- and left-handed electronic phases as first demonstrated by Coleman via the conversion of the massive Thirring model into a Josephson type pendulum model. The complete theory of wireless communication between biological organisms is only beginning to be developed. The basic DNA and RNA microbe antennae must be wired in nature as a coherent phased antenna array for appreciable communication bit rates radiated through large distances. Finally, acoustic and/or radio frequency electromagnetic radiation carrying sufficient communication information should be of use medically as a possible alternative to chemical medicines and/or vaccines in the treatment of illness; for a most recent example in the COVID-19 virus with its RNA internal antenna.