 Traditional Computers

 Introduction to DNA
 Structure of DNA
 DNA Computers
 Advantages & Disadvantages
 Develoments in DNA Computing
 References
 Traditional computers started with
vacuum tubes, mechanical switches.
 Now we have IC’s and processors with

VLSI, ULSI technologies.

 These computers are examples of Von

Neumann architecture.
 Silicon is the life for today's computers.
 Moore’s Law states that silicon

microprocessors double in complexity

roughly every two years.
 One day this will no longer hold true when

miniaturisation limits are reached.

 Require a successor to silicon.
 Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic
acid that contains the genetic instructions
used in the development and functioning
of all known living organisms.
 DNA is nothing but blueprint or a code,

since it contains the instructions needed

to construct other components of cells,
such as proteins and RNA molecules.
 Chemically, DNA consists of two
long polymers of simple units
called nucleotides, with backbones made of
sugars and phosphate groups joined
by ester bonds.
 These two strands run in opposite directions
to each other and are therefore anti-parallel.
 There are 4 nucleotides in DNA
A – Adenine T –Thymine
C – Cytosine G – Guanine
 DNA computing is a form
of computing which
uses DNA, biochemistry and mo
lecular biology, instead of the
traditional silicon-
based computer technologies.
 This field was initially

developed by Leonard
Adleman of the University of
Southern California, in 1994.
 Adleman demonstrated a proof-of-
concept use of DNA as a form of
computation which solved the seven-
point Hamiltonian path problem.
 DNA computers are faster and smaller

than any other computer built so far. But

DNA computing does not provide any new
capabilities from the standpoint
of computability theory .
 STEP1:Encode the city names in short DNA
sequences . Encode the Itineraries by
connecting the city sequences for which the
routes exist .
CITY DNA SEQUENCE
MUMBAI GCTACG
DELHI CTAGTA
BANGALORE TCGTAC
CHENNAI CTACGG
 TheKOLKATA
DNA molecules are generated by a
ATGCCG
machine called DNA synthesizer
•Polymerase chain reaction is used to produce many
copies of the DNA
•PCR is iterative and uses an enzyme called
polymerase
•Polymerase copies a section of single stranded DNA
starting at the position of the primer, which is DNA
complimentary to one end of the Interested section.
 Step 2: Sort the DNA by length and select
the DNA whose length Corresponds to 5 cities.

• Gel electrophoresis force

the DNA through a gel matrix
by using an electric field.
• DNA forces its way through the
gel which slows down the
DNA at different rates.
STEP 3:Successively filter the DNA molecules
by city, one city at a Time.
•Finally, use affinity separation procedure to
weed out paths without all the cities
•Iterative procedure (for each vertex/city)
•Probe molecules attached on iron balls attract
the correct strands; the rest is poured out

•If any DNA is left in the tube, it is the

Hamiltonian Path.
The power of DNA in view of computation capability:
 vast parallelism: 10 trillion ligation reaction could be
done simultaneously in a marble-sized space.
 exceptional energy efficiency:
2×1019 operations/J,
theoretical bound 3×1019 operations/J,
existing computer: 109 operations/J.
 extraordinary information density:
1gram = 4×1021 bits = 1 trillion CDs.
 DNA computing involves a relatively large
amount of error.
 Requires human assistance!
 Time consuming laboratory procedures.
 No universal method of data

representation.
 DNA has a half-life.
◦ Solutions could dissolve away before the end
result is found
 Began in 1994 when Dr. Leonard Adleman
wrote the paper “Molecular computation
of solutions to combinatorial problems” &
succeeded in using it.
 First practical DNA computer unveiled in

2002 by Olympus Optical Co., Ltd .

Used in gene analysis.
DNA computer for gene
analysis (development
prototype).

High-speed fully-
automated process
from sample injection to
reaction enables
quantitative gene
expression profiling.
 Self-powered DNA computer unveiled in 2003.
>First programmable autonomous computing machine in
which the input, output, software and hardware were all
made of DNA molecules.
>Can perform a billion operations per second with 99.8%
accuracy
• In 2004 an autonomous DNA computer that is capable of
diagnosing cancerous activity within a cell, and then
releasing an anti-cancer drug upon diagnosis is
constructed by Prof. Shapiro & team. They claim in the
journal Nature that they were successful.
 A DNA Sequence Design for Direct-
Proportional Length-Based DNA Computing
using DNASequenceGenerator is developed in
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in 2008.
 A Method to Encrypt Information with DNA

Computing has been suggested by Zheng

Zhang, Xiaolong Shi, Jie Liu of Department of
Control Science and Engineering, Huazhong
Univ of Sci&Tech,China in 2008.
 DNA computers showing enormous
potential, especially for medical purposes
as well as data processing applications.

 Many issues to be overcome to produce a

useful DNA computer.
 www.news.nationalgeographic.com/news/200
3/02/0224_030224_DNAcomputer.html -
 www.cnn.com
 www.sciam.com/article.cfm?
articleID=000A4F2E-781B-1E5A-
A98A809EC5880105
 http://unisci.com/stories/20021/0315023.htm
 www.howstuffworks.com
 www.bbcworld.com
 www.wikipedia.com
 IEEE papers on DNA computing