Diagram of the new DNA circuit
What’s the News: Researchers have built the most complex DNA-based computer yet, a circuit of 130 strands of DNA that can compute the square root of numbers up to 15. The system, reported today in Science, is made of biological logic gates, which do computations using DNA strands’ natural propensity to zip and unzip. This new method is easily adapted for different calculations and can be automated, meaning it could be used to build much larger circuits.
How the Heck:
The researchers started with strands of synthetic DNA, some on their own and some paired up. These DNA fragments were designed to take advantage of DNA’s ability to zip (fitting together two complimentary strands, like in a double helix) and unzip (pulling the strands apart). When a single strand of DNA found a complimentary sequence to bind to at the tip of a pair of strands, it zipped itself on to one of them, displacing the other strand in the process.The scientists used the double strands as logic gates, the type of device that performs “AND” and “OR” computations in a silicon computer. The single strands of DNA served as ...
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