The ABC of DNA Computing

5. Using complementarity to link connecting flights.

In the experiment, strands representing the flights are mixed in a test-tube with the complements to the strands representing the airports. If we let Atlanta* represent the complementary strand, etc., this gives

Atlanta Atlanta*

Dallas Dallas*

Chicago Chicago*

The test-tube then holds

Atlanta* Atl->Dal Dallas* Atl->Chi Chicago* Dal->Chi etc. Chi->Dal   etc.

When the contents are mixed, complementary sections of strand will bond,yielding products of reaction like:

          Atl->Dal
             
     
Atlanta*

              Atl->Chi
         
     
Atlanta*

              Dal->Chi
         
     
   Dallas*

and

              Atl->Dal          
            
    
   Atlanta*               Dallas*

     Atl->Dal         Dal->Chi
         
                           
               Dallas*

and

               Atl->Dal        Dal->Chi         
            
     
    Atlanta*           Dallas*         Chicago*

• 1. What is DNA?
• 2. The Directed Hamiltonian Path Problem
• 3. NP-complete Problems and Molecular Computation
• 4. Encoding vertices and edges with DNA strands
• 5. Using complementarity to link connecting flights
• 6. Using recombinant chemistry to extract the solution