Bridging the Two Worlds: A Universal Interface between Enzymatic and DNA Computing Systems

Abstract

AbstractMolecular computing based on enzymes or nucleic acids has attracted a great deal of attention due to the perspectives of controlling living systems in the way we control electronic computers. Enzyme‐based computational systems can respond to a great variety of small molecule inputs. They have the advantage of signal amplification and highly specific recognition. DNA computing systems are most often controlled by oligonucleotide inputs/outputs and are capable of sophisticated computing as well as controlling gene expressions. Here, we developed an interface that enables communication of otherwise incompatible nucleic‐acid and enzyme‐computational systems. The enzymatic system processes small molecules as inputs and produces NADH as an output. The NADH output triggers electrochemical release of an oligonucleotide, which is accepted by a DNA computational system as an input. This interface is universal because the enzymatic and DNA computing systems are independent of each other in composition and complexity.