Realization of Associative Memory in an Enzymatic Process: Towards Biomolecular Networks with Learning and Unlearning Functionalities

摘要

We report a realization of an associative memory signal/informationprocessing system based on simple enzyme-catalyzed biochemical reactions.Optically detected chemical output is always obtained in response to thetriggering input, but the system can also "learn" by association, to laterrespond to the second input if it is initially applied in combination with thetriggering input as the "training" step. This second chemical input is notself-reinforcing in the present system, which therefore can later "unlearn" toreact to the second input if it is applied several times on its own. Suchprocessing steps realized with (bio)chemical kinetics promise applications ofbio-inspired/memory-involving components in "networked" (concatenated)biomolecular processes for multi-signal sensing and complex informationprocessing.