DNA COMPUTING

I believe things like DNA computing

will eventually lead the way to a
“molecular revolution,” which
ultimately will have a very dramatic
effect on the world.
L. Adleman
Presentation Outline
 Basic concepts of DNA
 Origin of DNA Computing
 Solution for NP-Complete Problems
 Advantages of DNA Computing
 Problems with Adleman’s Experiment
 DNA Computers
 What is DNA?
 All organisms on this planet are made of the same
type of genetic blueprint.
 Within the cells of any organism is a substance
called DNA which is a double-stranded helix of
nucleotides.
 DNA carries the genetic information of a cell.
 This information is the code used within cells to
form proteins and is the building block upon which
life is formed.
 Strands of DNA are long polymers of millions of
linked nucleotides.
Graphical Representation of inherent
bonding properties of DNA
Travelling Salesman Problem
 In early 1994, Adleman put his theory of DNA
computing to the test on a problem called the Traveling
Salesman Problem.
Advantages of DNA Computing
 Perform millions of operations simultaneously

 Generate a complete set of potential solutions

 Conduct large parallel searches

 Efficiently handle massive amounts of working memory

 cheap, clean, readily available materials

 amazing ability to store information

Problems with Adleman’s Experiment
 The researchers performed Adleman’s Experiment
and the results obtained were inconclusive.

 The researchers state that “At this time we have

carried out every step of Adleman’s Experiment
but have not gotten an unambiguous final result.”

 The problem is because of the underlying

assumption that the biological operations are
error-free.
Advantages of a DNA Computer
 Parallel Computing- DNA computers are massively
parallel.

 Incredibly light weight- With only 1 LB of DNA you

have more computing power than all the computers ever
made.

 Low power- The only power needed is to keep DNA

from denaturing.

 Solves Complex Problems quickly- A DNA computer

can solve hardest of problems in a matter of weeks
Disadvantages of DNA Computer
 High cost is time.

 Occasionally slower-Simple problems are solved

much faster on electronic computers.

 It can take longer to sort out the answer to a problem

than it took to solve the problem.

 Reliability- There is sometime errors in the pairing of

DNA strands
THANK YOU