DNA computing graduate course: invited lectures and presentations

DNA Computing and Molecular Evolution

Abstract:
How do cells and nature "compute"? They read and "rewrite" DNA all the time, by processes that modify sequence at the DNA or RNA level. I will use the term "cellular computing" to describe how some processes, such as gene scrambling and RNA editing, use simple base pairing to create functional coding genes out of seemingly disordered sequence. The scrambling of genes in the germline of ciliated protozoans such as Oxytricha and Stylonychia offer a unique opportunity to study nature's solution to a hard path problem, rather like Adleman's DNA solution to the traveling salesman problem.

Our current effort is directed toward (1) recoding DNA in the laboratory (DNA2DNA computations) and (2) understanding how cells unscramble DNA, how this process has arisen, and how the "programs" are laboratory (DNA2DNA computations) and (2) understanding how cells unscramble DNA, how this process has arisen, and how the "programs" are written. Together, the stunning acrobatics of DNA such as scrambling or editing, give proof to the versatility of nucleic acids and their potential use in solving biological problems of computation.

Last modified: April 1, 1998