Tic-tac-toe-playing-computer consisting of DNA strands in solution demonstrates the potential of molecular logic gates.
Image: Jean-Francois Podevin
In Brief
- DNA molecules can act as elementary logic gates analogous to the silicon-based gates of ordinary computers. Short strands of DNA serve as the gates’ inputs and outputs.
- Ultimately, such gates could serve as dissolved “doctors”—sensing molecules such as markers on cells and jointly choosing how to respond.
- Automata built from these DNA gates demonstrate the system’s computational abilities by playing an unbeatable game of tic-tac-toe.
From a modern chemist’s perspective, the structure of DNA in our genes is rather mundane. The molecule has a well-known importance for life, but chemists often see only a uniform double helix with almost no functional behavior on its own. It may come as a surprise, then, to learn that this molecule is the basis of a truly rich and strange research area that bridges synthetic chemistry, enzymology, structural nanotechnology and computer science.
Using this new science, we have constructed molecular versions of logic gates that can operate in water solution. Our goal in building these DNA-based computing modules is to develop nanoscopic machines that could exist in living organisms, sensing conditions and making decisions based on what they sense, then responding with actions such as releasing medicine or killing specific cells.
Already a Digital subscriber? Sign-in Now
If your institution has site license access, enter here.
See what we're tweeting about
4 Comments
Add CommentThe speed at which technology is advancing is awe-inspiring. I have always seen the correlations between "life" and inorganic computers, and now the boundry has been crossed. now the question is can we merge the technologies? can the human psyche mature enough so safely wield this tech to further makind as a whole, and not a tool of primal war? What are the ethical implications of crossing the line between "life" and inanimate machines. These questions will surely reshape makind as our social development stagnates behind our tech advancements... and as the very deffinition of "living" and inanimate objects is redefined.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisReading the previous comment immediately caused me to recallan NPR Science Friday interview with Ray Kurzwell. The interview was entitled "Will We Recognize the Future". Will humans become little more than programmed beings? I hope not. I would not want to live in a world where parents could go to the store and pick their offspring off the shelf. Where we would have programmed nano-molecules flowing through our circulatory systems searching out this or that. Bio-diversity - life - is good. Life and death are part of life. Perhaps I'm old-fashioned but I embrace life - not a programmed future world.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisdon't worry gillian
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou don't actually think society will allow some people to become so power they don't have to answer to anyone? of course its just transhumanist propaganda.
There 's a good site at http://www.geneticsandsociety.org that debunks all the "posthumanity" claims.
here is a direct link to the posthuman section
http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?list=type&type=50
I liked the article and the basic idea. But, as a computer engineer by training, I need to ask one question:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn MAYA-II, why is is necessary to have 32 gate types to cleave the human player's moves?
At first glance, I'd expect only 8 gates: a YES for a given human move in each of the 8 wells. That is, Well 1 has only a YES(1), Well 2 has only a YES(2) and so forth. What purpose are the other 28 gates serving? And why is it 4/well? One would expect either 8/well or 1/well, with 2/well and 4/well being, most like, unminimized cases.
Did I miss something?