Long-range energy transfer in DNA

Abstract Experimental data on strand breakage in DNA following the direct deposition of ionizing energy seem to require an explanation in terms of long-range energy transfer within the DNA duplex. It is proposed here that the mechanism underlying such energy transfer might involve solitons or solitary waves. These act, at one and the same time, to provide a local environment within the DNA molecule capable of supporting delocalized electronic excitation or charge, and also enable the transportation of such regions along the molecule through the formation of a mobile “open state” in the duplex. Such a mechanism, if established, would have considerable implications for the mechanistic understanding of radiobiology.