A Proposal on Quantum Histone Modification in Gene Expression

Abstract

A quantum mechanical model on histone modification is proposed. Along with the methyl / acetate or other groups bound to the modified residues the torsion angles of the nearby histone chain are supposed to participate in the quantum transition cooperatively. The transition rate W is calculated based on the non-radiative quantum transition theory in adiabatic approximation. By using W's the reaction equations can be written for histone modification and the histone modification level can be calculable from the equations, which is decided by not only the atomic group bound to the modified residue, but also the nearby histone chain. The theory can explain the mechanism for the correlation between a pair of chromatin markers observed in histone modification. The temperature dependence and the coherence-length dependence of histone modification are deduced. Several points for checking the proposed theory and the quantum nature of histone modification are suggested as follows: 1, The relationship between lnW and 1/T is same as usual protein folding. The non-Arhenius temperature dependence of the histone modification level is predicted. 2, The variation of histone modification level through point mutation of some residues on the chain is predicted since the mutation may change the coherence-length of the system. 3, Multi-site modification obeys the quantum superposition law and the comparison between multi-site transition and single modification transition gives an additional clue to the testing of the quantum nature of histone modification.