Biomolecular Electronics

Dear Colleagues,

DNA-based electronics has become quite advanced, with a good agreement between theory and experiment in some cases and sophisticated proposals for self-assembled devices based on DNA origami. The same is not true of proteins, where there seems to be no agreement at all between theories based on the coupling of redox centers by electron tunneling and molecular device measurements in which proteins are contacted by electrodes. In the latter case, there are reports of nS conductance over distances of many nm. Multilayers of protein appear to conduct as well as monolayers and large conductances have been observed in long filaments. Strikingly, bacterial pili have been shown to have conductivities that can exceed s/m. Even redox-active proteins, which should be textbook examples of Marcus-like hopping transport, have been measured as having temperature-independent conductances.

Long-range, temperature-independent transport would appear to require quantum coherence, which seems unlikely in a water bath at 300K. However, if these systems are not quantum coherent, how can we accommodate the reports of electron spin polarization in transport through chiral proteins?

One focus of this Special Issue of Biomolecules is examining these fundamental problems, or at least exposing them to a wider audience. However, the technological implications of biomolecular electronics are far-reaching. This is particularly true for the simpler case of DNA. DNA "circuits" are one example; sequencing by means of electron tunneling is another. As we approach an age where VLSI and nanotechnology merge with molecular medicine and biology based on massive data sets, this field will become central in the integration of computing and biology.

Prof. Stuart Lindsay
Guest Editor

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