Automata for DNA Splicing Languages with Two Restriction Enzymes

Abstract

DNA splicing system is modelled by the process of recombinant DNA that generates a language which is known as a splicing language. In DNA splicing system, molecules are cut and recombined with the existence of restriction enzymes and a ligase to produce new molecules. The molecules resulting from the splicing system depict the splicing language using formal language theory. In nature, the sequences of restriction enzyme can be recognised as palindromic or non-palindromic, where palindrome is a sequence of string which reads the same forwards and backwards. Research on splicing languages from DNA splicing systems has been done based on palindromic and non-palindromic restriction enzymes. In this research, the relation between DNA splicing language and concepts in automata theory is discussed. The splicing languages from the splicing system with one cutting site each of two palindromic or two non-palindromic restriction enzymes are deduced from the grammars. Then, the graphical representations of the languages generated by the grammars depicting the splicing languages are visualised as automata diagrams.