Biomolecular Computing and Programming

Molecular computing is a discipline that aims at harnessing individual molecules at nanoscales for computational purposes. The best studied molecules for this purpose to date have been DNA and bacteriorhodopsin. Molecular computing allows one to realistically entertain, for the rst time in history, the possibility of exploiting the massive parallelism at nanoscales inherent in natural phenomena to solve computational problems. The implementation ofevolutionary algorithms in biomolecules would bring about full circle the biological analogy and present an atractive alternative to meet large demands on computational power. This paper presents a review of the most important advances in molecular computing in the last few years. Major achievements to date are outlined, both experimental and theoretical, and major potential advances and challenges for practicioners in the foreseeable future are identi ed. A list of sources and major events in the eld has been compiled in an appendix, although no exhaustive survey of the expanding literature is intended. 1