Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.127, No.41, 14434-14438, 2005
Detection and automatic repair of nucleotide base-pair mutations by coherent light
We show that phase-coherent optical techniques allow for the detection and automatic repair of mutations in nucleotide pairs. We demonstrate computationally that there is a laser pulse sequence that can detect the occurrence of a mutation caused by a double proton transfer between hydrogen-bonded nucleotide pairs and automatically repair it by converting the mutated nucleoticle pair to the nonmutated one. The specific system chosen for this demonstration is the hydrogen-bonded 2-pyridone-2-hydroxypyridine dimer at typical internucleotide distances, a well-established model for tautomeric acid base pairs.