Biological computer built inside a single cell
MAR 29, 2013
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.026886
Science : Synthetic biologists have created a biological transistor that can amplify small molecular signals. To mimic an electronic transistor , Drew Endy of Stanford University and colleagues used a DNA strand as a wire, molecules of RNA polymerase instead of a current of electrons, and proteins called integrases as a gate to control the flow of RNA-Ps. The researchers used a short piece of DNA called a “terminator” to create an on-off switch, or transcriptor. By lining up multiple transcriptors, they created a system of standard logical circuits composed of AND gates and OR gates, much like a computer processor. Because their biological circuit is capable of large amplification, it could be used “to do everything from monitor pollutants and the progression of disease to turning on the output of medicines and biofuels,” writes Robert Service for Science.
© 2013 American Institute of Physics
