Speed Limits on Biomolecular Processes from Fundamental Physical Constants

Abstract

Many of the time scales of life have speed limits set by quantum-mechanical constraints along with nonfundamental quantities, such as the temperature of the environment, which are however bounded by anthropic considerations. Here, some of such speed limits are examined, including those for the rates of elementary chemical reactions and biomolecular folding. Limitations of simple back-of-envelope estimates are also discussed.