title: Proton tunneling in the A∙T Watson-Crick DNA base pair: myth or reality?
abstract: The results and conclusions reached by Godbeer et al. in their recent work, that proton tunneling in the A∙T(WC) Watson-Crick (WC) DNA base pair occurs according to the Löwdin's (L) model, but with a small (~10(-9)) probability were critically analyzed. Here, it was shown that this finding overestimates the possibility of the proton tunneling at the A∙T(WC)↔A*∙T*(L) tautomerization, because this process cannot be implemented as a chemical reaction. Furthermore, it was outlined those biologically important nucleobase mispairs (A∙A*↔A*∙A, G∙G*↔G*∙G, T∙T*↔T*∙T, C∙C*↔C*∙C, H∙H*↔H*∙H (H - hypoxanthine)) - the players in the field of the spontaneous point mutagenesis - where the tunneling of protons is expected and for which the application of the model proposed by Godbeer et al. can be productive.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Molecular and Quantum Biophysics , Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine , 150 Akademika Zabolotnoho Str., 03680 Kyiv , Ukraine.|b Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Bioinformatics , Institute of High Technologies, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv , 2-h Akademika Hlushkova Ave., 03022 Kyiv , Ukraine.
authors.forename: Ol'ha O
authors.initials: OO
authors.lastname: Brovarets'
authors.affiliation: a Department of Molecular and Quantum Biophysics , Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine , 150 Akademika Zabolotnoho Str., 03680 Kyiv , Ukraine.|b Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Bioinformatics , Institute of High Technologies, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv , 2-h Akademika Hlushkova Ave., 03022 Kyiv , Ukraine.
authors.forename: Dmytro M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Hovorun
mesh_terms: D000225:Adenine / Q000737:chemistry*; D020029:Base Pairing; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D006860:Hydrogen Bonding; D008958:Models, Molecular; D015394:Molecular Structure; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D017354:Point Mutation; D011522:Protons; D011789:Quantum Theory; D013816:Thermodynamics; D013941:Thymine / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011522:Protons; D004247:DNA; D000225:Adenine; D013941:Thymine
keywords: A∙T Watson–Crick DNA base pair; Löwdin’s model; proton tunneling; spontaneous point mutation; tautomeric hypothesis