Wetenschapsforum

“We’ve known for a long time that biological systems are sensitive to light but not necessarily that they are sensitive to the phase information that may or may not be present in light,” explains Prokhorenko. “This finding opens up how we perceive biological systems and raises new questions such as, have biological systems designed themselves to be sensitive to phase information? What other roles do quantum effects play in nature?”

http://www.physorg.com/news76773461.html

Because of the wave-particle duality inherent in quantum mechanics, different states along the pathway of a molecular rearrangement can interfere with each other like vibrations on a string. The phases and amplitudes of spectral components in light pulses that initiate photochemical reactions can now be created that can steer small molecules along distinct reaction trajectories by inducing constructive or destructive wave interference among states. Prokhorenko et al. show that this approach can modulate the efficiency of retinal isomerization in the protein bacteriorhodopsin (a rearrangement closely related to the vision response) by as much as 20% in either direction. The extent of modulation is remarkable in light of the many degrees of freedom in the protein environment that might be expected to randomize the wave phases

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summ.../313/5791/1197b