SEMINAR

ON
DNA COMPUTING
PRESENTED BY :
MOHIT M M
1NT07CS066
VII SEM CS1
 AGENDA
• WHAT IS DNA COMPUTING ?
• WHO THOUGHT OF THIS ?
• HOW DO THEY WORK?
• DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CONVENTIONAL
COMPUTER & DNA COMPUTER
• HOW MUCH INFORMATION CAN THEY
STORE AND PROCESS?
• ADVANTAGES OF DNA COMPUTING.
• DISADVANTAGES OF DNA COMPUTING.
• WHAT IS THE FUTURE?
• CONCLUSION
WHAT IS DNA COMPUTING ?
• Computations performed using biomolecules is
called Biomolecular computing.
• Biomolecular computers work at the molecular
level.
Because biological and mathematical operations
have some similarities to DNA, the genetic material
that encodes for living organisms, is stable and
predictable in its reactions and can be used to
encode information for mathematical systems.
 WHO THOUGHT OF THIS ?
• DNA computing began in 1994 by Leonard
Ad leman a professor at the University of
Southern California and his article in a 1994
issue of the journal Science outlined how to
use DNA to solve a well-known mathematical
problem, called the directed Hamilton Path
problem, also known as the "traveling
salesman" problem.
• So Ad leman, now considered the father of
DNA computing,
 Ad leman's Traveling Salesman
Problem:
• The objective is to find a path from start to end
going through all the points only once. This
problem is difficult for conventional computers to
solve because it is a "non-deterministic
polynomial time problem" .
• The Hamiltonian Path problem was
chosen by Ad leman because it is known
problem.
The following algorithm solves the Hamiltonian
Path problem:
Step-1: Generate random paths through
the graph
Step-2: Keep only those paths that begin with the
start city (A) and conclude with the end city (E).
Step-3: If the graph has n cities, keep only those
paths with n cities. (n=5)
Step-4: Keep only those paths that enter all cities
at least once.
Step-5: Any remaining paths are solutions
Ad leman's Experiment
A Successor to Silicon :
Silicon microprocessors have been the heart of the
computing world for more than 40 years.
In that time, manufacturers have crammed more
and more electronic devices onto their
microprocessors. In accordance with Moore's
Law, the number of electronic devices put on a
microprocessor has doubled every 18 months.
DNA computers have the potential to take
computing to new levels, picking up where
Moore's Law leaves off.
 ADVANTAGE OF DNA OVER
SILICON
There are several advantages to using DNA
instead of silicon:
1. As long as there are cellular organisms, there
will always be a supply of DNA.
2. The large supply of DNA makes it a cheap
resource.
3. Unlike the toxic materials used to make
traditional microprocessors, DNA biochips can
be made cleanly.
4. DNA computers are many times smaller than
today's computers.
(Fig. the working of DNA computers)
 How do they work ?
• DNA is the major information storage molecule
in living cell
• Instead of using electrical impulses to represent
bits of information, the DNA computer uses the
chemical properties
• MEMORY UNIT: DNA computers use
deoxyribo nucleic acids -- A (adenine), C
(cytosine), G (guanine) and T (thymine)--as the
memory units
• COMPUTATION AREA: In a DNA computer,
computation takes place in test tubes or on a
glass slide coated in 24K gold.
INPUT – OUTPUT: The input and output are both
strands of DNA, whose genetic sequences
encode certain information.
EXECUTION:A program on a DNA computer is
executed as a series of biochemical operations.

Information is stored in
DNA as CG or AT
base pairs with
maximum information
density of 2bits per
DNA base location
 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
CONVENTIONAL COMPUTER &
DNA COMPUTER
The only fundamental difference between
conventional computers and DNA computers is
the capacity of memory units: electronic
computers have two positions (on or off),
whereas DNA has four (C, G, A or T).
Conventional computers represent information in
terms of 0's and 1's, physically expressed in
terms of the flow of electrons through logical
circuits, whereas DNA computers represent
information in terms of the chemical units of
DNA.
(STRUCTURE OF DNA MOLECULE)
How much information can they
store and process?
• DNA molecules can store far more
information than any existing computer
memory chip.
• It has been estimated that a gram of DNA
can hold as much information as a trillion
CDs.
• It would be about twice as fast as the
fastest supercomputer, performing more
than 2,000 instructions per second.
The Restricted Model:
The Restricted model of DNA computing in test
tubes is simplified to:
• Separate: isolate a subset of DNA from a
sample
• Merge: pour two test tubes into one to perform
union
• Detect: Confirm presence/absence of DNA in a
given test tube
Advantages of DNA Computing
1. It can handle massive parallel processing's. I.e.
Around 10 trillions of processes at a time.
2. It is extremely energy efficient.
3. It has got an amazing ability to store
information. One pound of DNA molecule can
store more than that amount of data which can
be stored by all the memory space that is ever
made for conventional computers.
4. It requires cheap, clean, readily available
materials.
5. More than 10 trillion DNA molecules can fit into
an area no larger than 1 cubic centimeter
 Disadvantages of DNA
computing:
1.long strands of DNA that encode more
information are costly
2.difficulties manipulating DNA
3.errors in the pairing of DNA strands
4.takes awhile to set up and perform an
experiment
5. DNA processing is slow.
What can they do now?
• The first problems solved by DNA
computations involved finding the optimal
path by which a traveling salesman could
visit a fixed number of cities once each.
• Recent work showed how DNA can be
employed to carry out a fundamental
computer operation, addition of two
numbers expressed in binary.
 What are the significant new
developments?

• We can see 16 strands of DNA and their enzyme

sequence as it corresponds to the binary numbers that
represent 0 through 15.
 What is the future?
• Future research is aimed at developing a device
that can read out answers more easily, perhaps
on a traditional computer screen, especially if
there is more than a single answer.
• 'The DNA computer might be a cost-effective
way to decode the genetic material of humans
and other living things.
• It might be able to create wet-data-bases of DNA
for research purposes that would eliminate the
time-consuming task of translating DNA into a
form that can be stored in an electronic
computer.
• Practical uses of the technology will come later.
 CONCLUSION
• Although no general-purpose DNA computer
that will be competitive with conventional
electronic systems is likely in the near term, the
wide variety of potential architectures for
Biomolecular systems make further research
desirable.
• Moreover, work in this area will likely have
additional impact on other biomedical
applications.
• Sooner or later Biomolecular computers are
going to take over the conventional computers.