AUTHOR=Turaeva Nigora , Oksengendler Boris L. 

TITLE=Non-poissonian Distribution of Point Mutations in DNA

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2020.00038

DOI=10.3389/fchem.2020.00038

ISSN=2296-2646

ABSTRACT=<p>In general, for chemical reactions occurring in systems, where fluctuations are not negligibly small, it is necessary to introduce a master equation for distribution of probability of fluctuations. It has been established that the monomolecular reactions of a type as <italic>A</italic> ↔ <italic>X</italic> are described by the master equation, which leads to a Poisson distribution with the variance equal to the average value <italic>N</italic><sub>0</sub>. However, the consideration of the Löwdin mechanism as autocatalytic non-linear chemical reactions such as <italic>A</italic> + <italic>X</italic> ↔ 2<italic>X</italic> and the corresponding master equation lead to a non-Poissonian probability distribution of fluctuations. In the presented work, first-order autocatalysis has been applied to the Löwdin's mechanism of spontaneous mutations in DNA. Describing double proton transfers between complimentary nucleotide bases along the chain by first-order autocatalytic reactions, the corresponding master equation for protons in tautomeric states becomes non-linear, and at non-equilibrium conditions this leads to the non-Poissonian distribution of spontaneous mutations in DNA. It is also suggested that the accumulation of large fluctuations of successive cooperative concerted protons along the chain may produce higher non-linearities which could have a significant impact on some biochemical processes, occurring in DNA.</p>