Zeszyty Naukowe Un Iwersytetu Jag Ie Llo Ń Sk Iego

Molecular computing is a new multidisciplinary area of research concerned with design, and theoretical and empirical understanding of computing gleaned from nature. It aims at the implementation of algorithms in molecular hardware, e.g. using DNA molecules and enzymes. The main advantages of the molecular computing lie in the possibility to obtain a massive parallelism of computation and associative memory of high capacity. The primary objectives of this paper are to discuss fundamental concepts of molecular computing and basic processes of standard genetic engineering used for DNA computing. In particular, such processes like hybridization, ligation, PCR, affinity separation, restriction enzyme digestion, and electrophoresis will be considered. Next, we provide computation models and algorithms applied in this area. We show that biochemical reactions may be used for performing molecular inference according to the algorithm of either forward or backward chaining. Finally, we concentrate on realization issues. Basic properties of DNA chips as well as data flow microreactors will be considered.