Because DNA is a quasi-one-dimensional species, and
because each base is a pi-type chromphore, it was long ago suggested that DNA could conduct electricity. This has become a widely investigated area, and remains of interest for fundamental science and for applications. We will discuss a very simple picture involving a combination of hopping and tunneling that seems to fit much of the available data. Other aspects, including the distance-dependent reorganization energy, defect energetics, hopping
models with strange distance dependences, and fabrication into
quantum-dot detection entities, will also be discussed.
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