Green Sulfur Bacteria Exploit Quantum Effects To Survive

Green Sulfur Bacteria Exploit Quantum Effects To Survive

Andrea D. Steffen

However, until the recent collaborative study by researchers from the University of Chicago and St. Louis’s Washington University revealed the green sulfur bacteria’s safety mechanism, the scientific community didn’t know much about how, and if, a living system exploits the features of quantum mechanics in the name of survival. Their study shows how the bacterium ‘tunes’ its system to lose energy if oxygen is present to prevent damage.

Greg Engel, a chemistry professor and senior author on the study, said:

Before this study, the scientific community saw quantum signatures generated in biological systems and asked the question, were these results just a consequence of biology being built from molecules, or did they have a purpose? This is the first time we see biology actively exploiting quantum effects.

Higgins said:

The simplicity of the mechanism suggests that it might be found in other photosynthetic organisms across the evolutionary landscape. Suppose more organisms can dynamically modulate quantum mechanical couplings in their molecules to produce larger changes in physiology. In that case, there could be a whole new set of effects selected for by nature that we don’t yet know about.