DNA computing: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:07, 17 March 2023

Revision as of 10:48, 2 April 2023

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=== Tic-tac-toe game ===

In 2002, J. Macdonald, D. StefanovicStefanović and M. StojanovicStojanović created a DNA computer able to play [[tic-tac-toe]] against a human player.<ref>[FR] - J. Macdonald, D. Stefanovic et M. Stojanovic, ''Des assemblages d'ADN rompus au jeu et au travail'', [[:fr:Pour la Science|Pour la Science]], {{n°|375}}, January 2009, {{p.|68-75}}</ref> The calculator consists of nine bins corresponding to the nine squares of the game. Each bin contains a substrate and various combinations of DNA enzymes. The substrate itself is composed of a DNA strand onto which was grafted a fluorescent chemical group at one end, and the other end, a repressor group. Fluorescence is only active if the molecules of the substrate are cut in half. The DNA enzymes simulate [[Logic function|logical functions]]. For example, such a DNA will unfold if two specific types of DNA strand are introduced to reproduce the logic function AND.

By default, the computer is considered to have played first in the central square. The human player starts with eight different types of DNA strands corresponding to the eight remaining boxes that may be played. To play box number i, the human player pours into all bins the strands corresponding to input #i. These strands bind to certain DNA enzymes present in the bins, resulting, in one of these bins, in the deformation of the DNA enzymes which binds to the substrate and cuts it. The corresponding bin becomes fluorescent, indicating which box is being played by the DNA computer. The DNA enzymes are divided among the bins in such a way as to ensure that the best the human player can achieve is a draw, as in real tic-tac-toe.