DNA computing: applications and challenges

DNA computing is a discipline that aims at harnessing individual molecules at the nanoscopic level for computational purposes. Computation with DNA molecules possesses an inherent interest for researchers in computers and biology. Given its vast parallelism and high-density storage, DNA computing approaches are employed to solve many combinatorial problems. However, the exponential scaling of the solution space prevents applying an exhaustive search method to problem instances of realistic size, and therefore artificial intelligence models are used in designing methods that are more efficient. DNA has also been explored as an excellent material and a fundamental building block for building large-scale nanostructures, constructing individual nanomechanical devices, and performing computations. Molecular-scale autonomous programmable computers are demonstrated allowing both input and output information to be in molecular form. This paper presents a review of recent advances in DNA computing and presents major achievements and challenges for researchers in the foreseeable future.