DNA Denaturing through UV-C Photon Dissipation: A Possible Route to Archean Non-enzymatic Replication

The results of a series of experiments are presented which demonstrate that the absorption of UV-C light by DNA at temperatures below the melting temperature leads to complete and reversible denaturing for small synthetic DNA of 25 base pairs (bp), and to partial and reversible denaturing for the 48 bp DNA and for the large salmon sperm and yeast DNA of average size 100 kbp. This result supports the thermodynamic dissipation theory of the origin of life in which non-enzymatic replication and the coupling of replication to dissipation are two important aspects. It also supports corollaries of this theory which provide an explanation for the homochirality of the molecules of life and for the beginnings of information accumulation in RNA and DNA through the thermodynamically driven process of photon dissipation