Electronic transport through DNA molecular wires in the presence of a strong dissipative environment is investigated. We show that new electronic states within the bandgap are formed induced by the coupling to the environment. These states show up in the conductance spectrum as a temperature dependent background and lead to a semiconducting to metallic transition with increasing temperature. The transmission at the Fermi level displays a very weak exponential dependence on the wire length as well as activated behavior with increasing temperature. Both results strongly indicate a dominant role of the environment in determining the electronic transport properties of the wire.

[1] cond-mat/0410660