DNA computing: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:29, 10 January 2025

Revision as of 00:36, 10 January 2025

Line 35:

=== Improved speed with Localized (cache-like) Computing ===

One of the challenges of DNA computing is its slow speed. While DNA is a biologically compatible substrate, i.e., it can be used at places where silicon technology cannot, its computational speed is still very slow. For example, the square-root circuit used as a benchmark in the field takes over 100 hours to complete.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last1=Qian|first1=L.|last2=Winfree|first2=E.|s2cid=10053541|date=2011-06-02|title=Scaling Up Digital Circuit Computation with DNA Strand Displacement Cascades|journal=Science|volume=332|issue=6034|pages=1196–1201|doi=10.1126/science.1200520|pmid=21636773|issn=0036-8075|bibcode=2011Sci...332.1196Q}}</ref> While newer ways with external enzyme sources are reporting faster and more compact circuits,<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|last1=Song|first1=Tianqi|last2=Eshra|first2=Abeer|last3=Shah|first3=Shalin|last4=Bui|first4=Hieu|last5=Fu|first5=Daniel|last6=Yang|first6=Ming|last7=Mokhtar|first7=Reem|last8=Reif|first8=John|date=2019-09-23|title=Fast and compact DNA logic circuits based on single-stranded gates using strand-displacing polymerase|journal=Nature Nanotechnology|volume=14|issue=11|pages=1075–1081|doi=10.1038/s41565-019-0544-5|pmid=31548688|issn=1748-3387|bibcode=2019NatNa..14.1075S|s2cid=202729100}}</ref> Chatterjee et al. demonstrated an interesting idea in the field to speed up computation through localized DNA circuits,<ref name="spacearch">{{Cite journal|last1=Chatterjee|first1=Gourab|last2=Dalchau|first2=Neil|last3=Muscat|first3=Richard A.|last4=Phillips|first4=Andrew|last5=Seelig|first5=Georg|date=2017-07-24|title=A spatially localized architecture for fast and modular DNA computing|journal=Nature Nanotechnology|volume=12|issue=9|pages=920–927|doi=10.1038/nnano.2017.127|pmid=28737747|issn=1748-3387|bibcode=2017NatNa..12..920C}}</ref> a concept being further explored by other groups.<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal|last1=Bui|first1=Hieu|last2=Shah|first2=Shalin|last3=Mokhtar|first3=Reem|last4=Song|first4=Tianqi|last5=Garg|first5=Sudhanshu|last6=Reif|first6=John|date=2018-01-25|title=Localized DNA Hybridization Chain Reactions on DNA Origami|journal=ACS Nano|volume=12|issue=2|pages=1146–1155|doi=10.1021/acsnano.7b06699|pmid=29357217|issn=1936-0851}}</ref> This idea, while originally proposed in the field of computer architecture, has been adopted in this field as well. In computer architecture, it is very well-known that if the instructions are executed in sequence, having them loaded in the cache will inevitably lead to fast performance, also called the principle of localization. This is because with instructions in fast cache memory, there is no need swap them in and out of main memory, which can be slow.<ref name="spacearch"/> Similarly, in localized DNA computing, the DNA strands responsible for computation are fixed on a breadboard-like substrate ensuring physical proximity of the computing gates. Such localized DNA computing techniques have been shown to potentially reduce the computation time by orders of magnitude.<ref name="spacearch"/>

=== Renewable (or reversible) DNA computing ===

Line 50:

|bibcode= 2019ITNan..18..252E|s2cid= 5616325}}

</ref>

While both the designs face some issues (such as reaction leaks), this appears to represent a significant breakthrough in the field of DNA computing. Some other groups have also attempted to address the gate reusability problem.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Song|first1=Xin|last2=Eshra|first2=Abeer|last3=Dwyer|first3=Chris|last4=Reif|first4=John|date=2017-05-25|title=Renewable DNA seesaw logic circuits enabled by photoregulation of toehold-mediated strand displacement|journal=RSC Advances|language=en|volume=7|issue=45|pages=28130–28144|doi=10.1039/C7RA02607B|bibcode=2017RSCAd...728130S|issn=2046-2069|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Goel|first1=Ashish|last2=Ibrahimi|first2=Morteza|chapter=Renewable, Time-Responsive DNA Logic Gates for Scalable Digital Circuits |date=2009|editor-last=Deaton|editor-first=Russell|editor2-last=Suyama|editor2-first=Akira|title=DNA Computing and Molecular Programming|series=Lecture Notes in Computer Science|volume=5877|language=en|___location=Berlin, Heidelberg|publisher=Springer|pages=67–77|doi=10.1007/978-3-642-10604-0_7|isbn=978-3-642-10604-0}}</ref>

Using strand displacement reactions (SRDs), reversible proposals are presented in the "Synthesis Strategy of Reversible Circuits on DNA Computers" paper for implementing reversible gates and circuits on DNA computers by combining DNA computing and reversible computing techniques. This paper also proposes a universal reversible gate library (URGL) for synthesizing n-bit reversible circuits on DNA computers with an average length and cost of the constructed circuits better than the previous methods.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Rofail|first1=Mirna|last2=Younes|first2=Ahmed|date=July 2021|title=Synthesis Strategy of Reversible Circuits on DNA Computers|journal=Symmetry|language=en|volume=13|issue=7|pages=1242|doi=10.3390/sym13071242|bibcode=2021Symm...13.1242R|doi-access=free}}</ref>