Effect of static magnetic field on DNA synthesis: The interplay between DNA chirality and magnetic field left-right asymmetry

Abstract

Interactions between magnetic fields (MFs) and living cells may stimulate a large variety of cellular responses to a MF, while the underlying intracellular mechanisms still remain a great puzzle. On a fundamental level, the MF — cell interaction is affected by the two broken symmetries: (a) left-right (LR) asymmetry of the MF and (b) chirality of DNA molecules carrying electric charges and subjected to the Lorentz force when moving in a MF. Here we report on the chirality-driven effect of static magnetic fields (SMFs) on DNA synthesis. This newly discovered effect reveals how the interplay between two fundamental features of symmetry in living and inanimate nature—DNA chirality and the inherent features of MFs to distinguish the left and right—manifests itself in different DNA synthesis rates in the upward and downward SMFs, consequently resulting in unequal cell proliferation for the two directions of the field. The interplay between DNA chirality and MF LR asymmetry will provide fundamental knowledge for many MF-induced biological phenotypes.