24-10-2009, 02:01 PM
[attachment=193]
DNA (Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid) computing, also known as molecular computing is a new approach to massively parallel computation based on groundbreaking work by Adleman. DNA computing was proposed as a means of solving a class of intractable computational problems in which the computing time can grow exponentially with problem size (the 'NP-complete' or non-deterministic polynomial time complete problems).A DNA computer is basically a collection of specially selected DNA strands whose combinations will result in the solution to some problem, depending on the problem at hand. Technology is currently available both to select the initial strands and to filter the final solution. Conventional computers use miniature electronic circuits etched on silicon chips to control information represented by electrical impulses. However, this silicon technology is starting to approach the limits of miniaturization, beyond which it will not be possible to make chips more powerful. DNA computing, on the other hand, represents information as a pattern of molecules arranged along a strand of DNA. These molecules can be manipulated, copied and changed by biochemical reactions in predictable ways through the use of enzymes. The appeal of DNA computing lies in the fact that DNA molecules can store far more information than any existing conventional computer chip. It has been estimated that a gram of dried DNA can hold as much information as a trillion CDs. Moreover, in a biochemical reaction taking place in a tiny surface area, hundreds of trillions of DNA molecules should be able to operate in concert, which would create a parallel processing system with the power of the largest current supercomputers. A highly interdisciplinary study, DNA computing is currently one of the fastest growing fields in both Computer Science and Biology, and its future looks extremely promising