Abstract
A regular crystal structure in which the lattice sites are occupied by the various isotopes of the same chemical element has enormous potential for the storage of information. Based on this idea, a model of an alternative genetic code is discussed in which elementary codons are represented by the various spatial combinations of different isotopes. In crystals with relatively large unit cell (e.g. boron) a single unit cell may play a role of an elementary isotopic codon. Some mechanisms of information transfer in such “isotopic biology” may involve localized electronic and vibrational states as well as isotopic variations of the diffusivity. Some possibilities of experimental testing of the proposed hypothesis are indicated.
Subject
Computer Science (miscellaneous),Social Sciences (miscellaneous),Theoretical Computer Science,Control and Systems Engineering,Engineering (miscellaneous)
Cited by
11 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献，注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献，订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献
1. Isotopicity in biology and in the theory of consciousness;Digital Informatics and Isotopic Biology: Self-organization and isotopically diverse systems in physics, biology and technology;2016
2. Fundamentals and applications of isotope effect in solids;Progress in Materials Science;2006-03
3. Elementary excitations in isotope-mixed crystals;Physics Reports;2005-04
4. Applications of isotope effects in solids;Journal of Materials Science;2003
5. Isotopic randomness as a biological factor;Biological Journal of the Linnean Society;1988-10