Long-distance electron tunneling in proteins

Abstract.

Long-distance tunneling is the major mechanism of electron transfer (ET) in proteins. For a number of years, a major question has been whether specific electron tunneling pathways exist. This question is still debated in the literature, because the pathways are not observed directly, and interpretation of experimental results on ET rates involves ambiguities. The extremely small tunneling interactions are difficult to calculate accurately. Recently, there has been remarkable progress in the area; however, some problems still remain unresolved. The accurate prediction of the absolute rates of long-distance ET reactions and other biological charge-transfer reactions is a particularly pressing issue. The current theoretical calculations indicate that the specific paths do exist in static protein structures. However, the protein motions can result in significant averaging of the spatial tunneling patterns, and it is not clear how accurately subtle quantum interference effects are described by the present theories. The key to resolving these issues is to perform accurate, first-principles calculations of electron tunneling that include the dynamics of the protein. This paper reviews some of theoretical issues of electron tunneling dynamics in inhomogeneous organic media.