Metabolic limits on classical information processing by biological cells

TL;DR

This paper proposes that biological cells may perform quantum information processing rather than classical, due to energy constraints, and suggests experimental tests to verify quantum effects in cellular communication.

Contribution

It introduces the hypothesis that cellular biochemistry implements quantum information processing, challenging the assumption of purely classical biological information processing.

Findings

Cell energy budgets are too low for classical states at atomic scales.

Quantum effects may be limited to cellular boundaries and compartments.

Proposes Bell-inequality tests to detect quantum processing in cells.

Abstract

Biological information processing is generally assumed to be classical. Measured cellular energy budgets of both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, however, fall orders of magnitude short of the power required to maintain classical states of protein conformation and localization at the \AA, fs scales predicted by single-molecule decoherence calculations and assumed by classical molecular dynamics models. We suggest that decoherence is limited to the immediate surroundings of the cell membrane and of intercompartmental boundaries within the cell, and that bulk cellular biochemistry implements quantum information processing. Detection of Bell-inequality violations in responses to perturbation of recently-separated sister cells would provide a sensitive test of this prediction. If it is correct, modeling both intra- and intercellular communication requires quantum theory.