Computing device to serve as basis for biologica...( ibosome is that a program rule molec...)

The computer is similar to the ribosome in that both operate on two polymers simultaneously. They function by incorporating incoming molecules into a growing polymer by matching these molecules to the analogous segments on the first polymer. However, unlike the ribosome, which only "reads" the messenger RNA in one direction, the computer edits the tape (first) polymer and may move in either direction.

A Future Interactive Biological Computer
The computer design may allow it to respond to the availability and to the relative concentrations of specific molecules in its environment, and to construct program-defined polymers, releasing them into the environment. If implemented using biomolecules, such a device may operate in the human body, interacting with its biochemical environment in a program- controlled manner. In particular, given a biomolecular implementation of the computer that uses RNA as the tape polymer, the computer may release cleaved tape polymer segments that function as messenger RNA, performing program- directed synthesis of proteins in response to specific biochemical conditions within the cell. Such an implementation could give rise to a family of computing devices with broad biological and pharmaceutical applications.

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Contact: Jeffrey J. Sussman
Jeffrey@acwis.org
212-779-2500
American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science
30-Jun-1999