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Science 8 December 2006:
Vol. 314. no. 5805, p. 1512
DOI: 10.1126/science.314.5805.1512e
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This Week in Science

The use of complex DNA pairing and strand-displacement schemes for computing and robotics is the subject of two reports (see the Perspective by Fontana). Ding and Seeman (p. 1583) have taken a DNA device that normally operates in solution and show that, when mounted on a lattice and placed within a cassette, it retains its functionality. The placement and operation of specific devices at this size scale is a key step in the development of nanorobotics. Seelig et al. (p. 1585) have designed a set of single-stranded DNA molecules that can be used in a modular fashion to build a series of logic circuits such as AND, OR, and NOT operators, as well as an amplifier and a thresh-olding device. The devices work by letting an input DNA strand bind to an exposed or unpaired segment of a gate device, which causes a strand displacement.




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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)