Fifty years after the discovery of the double-helix structure of the genetic material, DNA, scientists from the Weizmann Institute propose a new use for this molecule, which is at the basis of the phenomenon of life: fuel for operating molecular computing systems
Standing, from right to left: Prof. Zvi Livna and Prof. Ehud Shapira. Sitting, from right to left: Dr. Tamar Paz-Elitzur, Yaakov Benanson and Dr. Rivka Ader. Alternative energy
Fifty years after the discovery of the double-helix structure of the genetic material, DNA, scientists from the Weizmann Institute propose a new use for this molecule, which is the basis of the phenomenon of life: fuel for operating molecular computing systems. Like any other machine, computers also need a constant supply of energy for their operation. Electronic computers, for example, consume electricity. On the other hand, the molecular calculation system, presented about a year ago by Prof. Ehud Shapira and his team from the Weizmann Institute of Science, is powered by energy derived from ATP molecules that provide energy to all known life forms on Earth. The researchers added the ATP "fuel" to the solution that contained the DNA molecules that served as input and output, and the various enzyme molecules that performed the calculation operation.
Another original study carried out by Prof. Shapira's team, which was recently published in the scientific journal "Records of the Academy
National Academy of Sciences of the USA - PNAS, shows how it is possible to operate the molecular calculation system in a particularly economical way, when the DNA molecule that is used as an input to the system will also provide the energy needed to operate it.
The improved version of the molecular calculation system is powered solely by the energy that is released in the process of cutting the input molecule, which is part of the calculation process performed by the system. This is the energy stored in the chemical bonds of the DNA molecule. As we know, when the cutting enzyme of the computing system cuts the DNA molecule and disconnects two chemical bonds in the "backbone" of the double helix, the energy of the chemical bond is converted into heat energy that is released, thereby driving the molecular computing system.
One teaspoon (5 ml) of "molecular computer soup" can contain 15,000 trillion (15 followed by 15 zeros) molecular calculation systems, which together perform 330 trillion operations per second with a 99.9% accuracy level for each operation. These systems need very little energy for their operation, which is provided entirely through the release of the energy stored in the chemical bonds of the DNA molecules. The amount of heat released by the "soup" in this process is extremely small: only 25 million watts. These data earned Prof. Shapira's molecular calculation system the title of "the smallest biological calculation system in the world", on behalf of the Guinness Book of World Records.
The research student Yaakov Benanson, Dr. Rivka Ader, Dr. Tamar Paz-Elitzur and Prof. Zvi Livna from the department participated in the study.
for biological chemistry at the Weizmann Institute of Science, and Prof. Ehud Shapira from the same department and from the department of computer science and applied mathematics at the Weizmann Institute of Science.
