Computing with biomolecules

摘要

During the last few years the attention of computer scientists has been drawn toward new paradigms for computation. The computational possibilities offered by biotechnology are now being investigated by research groups in Eurpe, North America, and Asia, In 1994 Leonard Adleman solved an instance of the Directed Hamiltonian Path problem (DHP) using techniques of biotechnology to transform an ecoding of the problem in single stranded DNA molecules into a recoverable DNA encoding of the solution. This initiated what is now called "DNA computing". Biomolecules may have additional uses in computing as either input/output devices or as memory devices. Moreover, problems can be encoded into doubel stranded DNA and possible also into RNA in such a way as to allow transformation into recoverable solutions. There is evidence that proteins play each of these roles in living systems.