Crystals that count! Physical principles and experimental investigations of DNA tile self-assembly
Published on: 2014/05/27
Abstract
Counting is among the most fundamental computing primitives. One might say that clocks made of gears and springs -- and astronomical calculators such as the Antikythera mechanism of 100 BC -- were the logical precursors of more powerful computing machines like Babbage's difference engine and even the mechanical cash registers that were used for counting customers' purchases through the middle of the twentieth century. Biology, too, uses clocks and counters in a variety of forms: to step through the cell cycle, to grow each human a full set of 24 ribs, to make sure that no duckling gets left behind. How small, and how simple, can a counter be? Constantine has coaxed a set of 22 DNA molecular tiles to count to 31, in binary, as they self-assemble into a roughly 2 x 80 x 900 nanometer crystal. This must be the precursor to something!
Authors
Constantine G. Evans
