Nonlinear localized excitations and the dynamics of H-bonds in DNA

Abstract

The functioning of biomolecules has been a field of very extensive research in modern biology. One of the interesting questions e.g. is the understanding of transcription and copying of DNA molecules. In this contribution we apply recent results we obtained for vibrational energy localization in (arbitrary) nonlinear Hamiltonian lattices to models which might reflect parts of the dynamics of H-bonds in DNA molecules. We show using an abstract level of analysis that there exist generic features of whole classes of models with respect to the existence of (very) localized vibrational excitations. By analyzing the properties of energy (heat) flows in the presence of these localized vibrations we show the localized vibrations to control the heat flow, and thus can define functioning on the level of these physical models. Let us however at the beginning spend a few paragraphs in order to express our views on the advantages and limitations of theoretical physics approaches to the initial problem of functioning in biomolecules.