Toward a local manipulation of DNA by quantum fields

Abstract

Hydrogen bonds are the fundamental backbone for deoxyribo-nucleic acid (DNA) stability. In this letter we propose a new strategy based on plasmonic cavities to perform a local manipulation of hydrogen bonds in DNA. The analysis is performed using state-of-the-art Quantum Electrodynamics Coupled Cluster calculations (QED-CC). We demonstrate that in standard strong coupling regimes, small but appreciable local modifications of the nucleotide bases' interactions can be induced in a totally non-intrusive manner. The effect can eventually be enhanced if ultra-strong coupling conditions can be reached. Our strategy provides an alternative approach to methodologies based on a collective coupling to perform optical DNA manipulation.