Self-recognition of DNA — From life processes to DNA computation

Abstract

Ever since the first appearance of deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA) in 1953, it has fascinated multitudes with its simplicity. With a modest syllabus of four nucleotides (adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine), it codes for the complexity of life around us. In this paper, we investigate how the structure of DNA codes for life processes and how we can take advantage of its minuscule size, mechanism of self-recognition and self-assembly for ‘bottom-up’ nanotechnology. High hopes are also placed on miniaturizing present computing technology using DNA computing based on two fundamental features; massive parallelism of DNA strands and Watson-Crick complementarity. Advances in DNA-based computation and algorithmic assembly are then used to complement researches in DNA nanotechnology.