"So far, several theoretical models have been proposed for encryption and hiding (steganography) of information based on DNA", explains Prof. Ehud Kinan. "Molecular encryption of images has never been tested with experimental tools"
Technion researchers have developed a biological computer, which is built entirely of DNA molecules and enzymes, which can be used to decode visual information encoded on chips.
This is the first time that a biological computer is used to encrypt and decrypt information using a laboratory device. The researchers put together appropriate software, in the form of chemical solutions, with which they were able to decipher encrypted fluorescent images, such as the Technion logo or the Scripps Research Institute logo.
This research was published in the scientific journal Angewandte Chemie and was carried out by Prof. Ehud Kinan from the Shulich Faculty of Chemistry at the Technion together with doctoral student Sivan Shoshani, post-doctoral student Dr. Ron Piren and Dr. Yoav Araba from the Faculty of Biology at the Technion.
"So far, several theoretical models have been proposed for encryption and hiding (steganography) of information based on DNA," explains Prof. Keenan. "Some of them have been realized in the context of text encryption, but molecular encryption of images has never been tested with experimental tools, and certainly not with methods related to molecular computers. The way we were able to encrypt images on printed chips is a significant advance in the field because it demonstrated for the first time that a molecular calculating machine can be programmed and applied in a very important field. The impressive progress of DNA chip technology in recent years allows the printing of a million pixels on a small surface of one square centimeter. This means that different images can be encrypted on such a surface with astronomical numbers, so that the ability to decipher them is only in the hands of those who have the appropriate software.
According to its basic definition, the computer is a machine that is built from four components: hardware, software, input and output. "Unlike the electronic computer, the biomolecular computer is a machine, in which all the above components are molecules, which "talk" to each other logically in a chain of chemical events, which can be programmed. Both the hardware and the software of the biological computer are complex biological molecules, which activate each other in defined chemical reactions. The input is a molecule, which undergoes certain processing, i.e. chemical changes, according to predetermined laws. The result of the calculation, or the output of this computer, is also a defined molecule.
"Biomolecular computers are unable to compete with electronic computers in terms of speed and efficiency in normal computational tasks," explains Prof. Ehud Kinan. "The growing interest in these computers stems from their advantages over electronic computers in other ways. Although each step in a molecular calculation is slower than the movement of electrons in familiar computers, the fact that trillions of chemical reactions occur simultaneously makes the calculation process very fast. The current work demonstrates the high capabilities of information storage and its encryption using DNA molecules as well as high capabilities of parallel calculation. In addition, as we have found in other studies carried out in our laboratories, molecular computing machines are able to communicate directly with biological systems and even with whole organisms to perform desired tasks."
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R.H. Ghost, thanks for your comment, I'll try to implement.
Yuval, thank you very much.
(I suspected that this article was a disguise for the real thing 🙂 )
Avi Blizovsky
I appreciate you very much for your investment in this site. But still, I don't think it's really a problem to add a link at the end of the article, and I also don't think the readers need to complete this task.
Thanks.
Yuval, thank you very much!
Fascinating, and many thanks to Yuval for the explanation.
Answer to Yair:
First, I would like to emphasize that it is not certain that everything I say here is true, because my knowledge of biology amounts to two courses at the Technion. Nevertheless, I tried to read the article (link below). It will be completely incomprehensible to those who have not taken a course in biology, and partially understandable to those who have only taken it. This is what I understood:
You take a DNA chip (a two-dimensional array of many DNA molecules), and encode an image on it. The entire chip is printed at once when it is already encrypted, but each molecule is encrypted individually (ie each molecule contains different information).
What is important is the decoding of the information using the computer. The described computer is very simple: two state machines (automatic machines) each with two states. You have a total of 2*2=4 modes, that is, this biological computer is equivalent to a computer with a 2-bit memory.
The input to the computer is the encrypted array.
The hardware from which the computer is built are the enzymes that break down and build the DNA (restriction and ligase), as well as ATP molecules that provide the enzymes with energy.
The software is expressed in special (specially engineered) molecules that stick to the DNA after the action of the degradation enzymes. The attachment of any such molecule to a DNA molecule means a transition of the automaton from one state to another (this is the realization of the transition function between the states - for those who have studied automata).
The calculation ends as soon as you reach the end of the input, which is encoded by a certain sequence of bases in DNA.
The output obtained for each molecule is another molecule, which encodes within it the final state of the automaton for the original molecule. Because every automaton here has 2 states - it's only 0 or 1.
That is: at the end of the calculation process, you receive as an output an array of molecules, each of which represents a 0 or a 1. The entire array represents some kind of image, which is the encrypted message. The image itself can be seen (for example) by adding a gene that emits fluorescent light and binds to only one of the two states (this is what they did).
Here is the original article (it's a shame the scientists didn't link here in the first place):
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.201107156/pdf
Here is an explanation of what a DNA chip is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_microarray
The article is not really clear to me either, but from what I think I understood at the time, the intention was that the biological computer, unlike a conventional computer, would have the ability to physically communicate with the physical world in a more accessible way than a normal computer. As for example in the identification, decoding and encryption of visual information thanks to the chemical activity of the computer's biological system (compared to the electrical activity in a regular computer - which is an activity that involves far fewer particles {therefore it is also faster than a biological computer but less stable and less intuitive for the user}).
Only those involved in this can explain to you. I don't think those involved have time to log in and read my or your comments.
Oh well, I see no one is going to explain, okay. for health
Interesting article but a bit unclear...
An explanation would be helpful
I agree with Yair's question,
It is really not clear from the article what the system ultimately receives, and what result it returns.
Anyone ready to explain?
"Technion researchers have developed a biological computer, which is built entirely of DNA molecules and enzymes, which can be used to decode visual information encoded on chips"
Can you translate into Hebrew please?
After all, what is the input given to the system? And what is the output?
Don't forget that in the case mentioned above - "a computer eating sandwiches"... the computer will probably have to shit... and fart (not on us)...
Soon we will eat the computer in sandwiches instead of supplying it with electricity...
interesting…
Assuming that all biological creatures can be treated as biological computer-based robots, can it be claimed that evolutionary biology exhausted the capabilities of these computers during evolution (exhaustion in the sense that it produced all/most of the components that can be produced and in an optimal way), and then we are actually just trying to understand it?