L17 - Molecular Computing

Question 1

What is another name for Molecular Computing?

Answer 1

DNA Computing

Question 2

What are the benefits of DNA computing?

Answer 2

1 billion less energy used than silicon
1 trillion less space required than silicon.
Cheap
Can use living organisms as processes.
Can self-assemble

Question 3

What are the 4 operations performed on DNA?

Answer 3

Synthesis - Creation of synthetic DNA
Separation - Separation of DNA strands
Polymerase Chain Reaction - Extends a section of DNA strand
Gel Electrophoresis - Sorts DNA strands via select property.

Question 4

Define the Hamiltionian Path Problem…

Answer 4

Given a graph, is there a path that visits each node only once.

Question 5

How was DNA computing used to solve the Hamiltonian problem?

Answer 5

1. Encode cities and edges as DNA strands
2. Mix encoded DNA strands to generate solutions (paths).
3. Perform Gel Electrophoresis to sort solutions.

Question 6

What is DNA storage?

Answer 6

Process of converting DNA strands to and from binary form for computational representation and storing.