Even as you read this article, computer chip manufacturers are furiously racing to make the next microprocessor

that will topple speed records. Sooner or later, though, this competition is bound to hit a wall. Microprocessors made of silicon will eventually reach their limits of speed and miniaturization. Chip makers need a new material to produce faster computing speeds. You won't believe where scientists have found the new material they need to build the next generation of microprocessors. Millions of natural supercomputers exist inside living organisms, including your body. DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) molecules, the material our genes are made of, have the potential to perform calculations many times faster than the world's most powerful human-built computers. DNA might one day be integrated into a computer chip to create a so-called biochip that will push computers even faster. DNA molecules have already been harnessed to perform complex mathematical problems. While still in their infancy, DNA computers will be capable of storing billions of times more data than your personal computer. In this article, you'll learn how scientists are using genetic material to create nano-computers that might take the place of siliconbased computers in the next decade.

DNA Computing Technology

DNA computers can't be found at your local electronics store yet. The technology is still in development, and didn't even exist as a concept a decade ago. In 1994, Leonard Adleman introduced the idea of using DNA to solve complex mathematical problems. Adleman, a computer scientist at theUniversity of Southern California, came to the conclusion that DNA had computational potential after reading the book "Molecular Biology of the Gene," written by James Watson, who co-discovered the structure of DNA in 1953. In fact, DNA is very similar to a computer hard drive in how it stores permanent information about your genes. Adleman is often called the inventor of DNA computers. His article in a 1994 issue of the journal Scienceoutlined how to use DNA to solve a well-known mathematical problem, called the directed Hamilton Path problem, also known as the "traveling salesman" problem. The goal of the problem is to find the shortest route between a number of cities, going through each city only once. As you add more cities to the problem, the problem becomes more difficult. Adleman chose to find the shortest route between seven cities. You could probably draw this problem out on paper and come to a solution faster than Adleman did using his DNA test-tube computer. Here are the steps taken in the Adleman DNA computer experiment: 1. Strands of DNA represent the seven cities. In genes, genetic coding is represented by the letters A, T, C and G. Some sequence of these four letters represented each city and possible flight path. 2. These molecules are then mixed in a test tube, with some of these DNA strands sticking together. A chain of these strands represents a possible answer. 3. Within a few seconds, all of the possible combinations of DNA strands, which represent answers, are created in the test tube. 4. Adleman eliminates the wrong molecules through chemical reactions, which leaves behind only the flight paths that connect all seven cities. The success of the Adleman DNA computer proves that DNA can be used to calculate complex mathematical problems. However, this early DNA computer is far from

challenging silicon-based computers in terms of speed. The Adleman DNA computer created a group of possible answers very quickly, but it took days for Adleman to narrow down the possibilities. Another drawback of his DNA computer is that it requires human assistance. The goal of the DNA computing field is to create a device that can work independent of human involvement. Three years after Adleman's experiment, researchers at the University of Rochester developed logic gatesmade of DNA. Logic gates are a vital part of how your computer carries out functions that you command it to do. These gates convert binary code moving through the computer into a series of signals that the computer uses to perform operations. Currently, logic gates interpret input signals from silicon transistors, and convert those signals into an output signal that allows the computer to perform complex functions. The Rochester team's DNA logic gates are the first step toward creating a computer that has a structure similar to that of an electronic PC. Instead of using electrical signals to perform logical operations, these DNA logic gates rely on DNA code. They detect fragments of genetic material as input, splice together these fragments and form a single output. For instance, a genetic gate called the "And gate" links two DNA inputs by chemically binding them so they're locked in an end-to-end structure, similar to the way two Legos might be fastened by a third Lego between them. The researchers believe that these logic gates might be combined with DNA microchips to create a breakthrough in DNA computing. DNA computer components -- logic gates and biochips -- will take years to develop into a practical, workable DNA computer. If such a computer is ever built, scientists say that it will be more compact, accurate and efficient than conventional computers. In the next section, we'll look at how DNA computers could surpass their silicon-based predecessors, and what tasks these computers would perform.

Silicon vs. DNA Microprocessors

Silicon microprocessors have been the heart of the computing world for more than 40 years. In that time, manufacturers have crammed more and more electronic devices onto their microprocessors. In accordance with Moore's Law, the number of electronic devices put on a microprocessor has doubled every 18 months. Moore's Law is named after Intel founder Gordon Moore, who predicted in 1965 that microprocessors would double in complexity every two years. Many have predicted that Moore's Law will soon reach its end, because of the physical speed and miniaturization limitations of silicon microprocessors. DNA computers have the potential to take computing to new levels, picking up where Moore's Law leaves off. There are several advantages to using DNA instead of silicon:

As long as there are cellular organisms, there will always be a supply of DNA. The large supply of DNA makes it a cheap resource. Unlike the toxic materials used to make traditional microprocessors, DNA biochips can be madecleanly.

DNA computers are many times smaller than today's computers. DNA's key advantage is that it will make computers smaller than any computer that has come before them, while at the same time holding more data. One pound of DNA has the capacity to store more information than all the electronic computers ever built; and the computing power of a teardrop-sized DNA computer, using the DNA logic gates, will be more powerful than the world's most powerful supercomputer. More than 10 trillion DNA molecules can fit into an area no larger than 1 cubic centimeter (0.06 cubic inches). With this small amount of DNA, a computer would be able to hold 10 terabytes of data, and perform 10 trillion calculations at a time. By adding more DNA, more calculations could be performed. Unlike conventional computers, DNA computers perform calculations parallel to other calculations. Conventional computers operate linearly, taking on tasks one at a time. It is parallel computing that allows DNA to solve complex mathematical problems in hours, whereas it might take electrical computers hundreds of years to complete them.

The first DNA computers are unlikely to feature word processing, e-mailing and solitaire programs. Instead, their powerful computing power will be used by national governments for cracking secret codes, or byairlines wanting to map more efficient routes. Studying DNA computers may also lead us to a better understanding of a more complex computer -- the human brain.

How DNA Works

The nucleotide is the basic building block of nucleic acids.

DNA Structure
DNA is one of the nucleic acids, information-containing molecules in the cell (ribonucleic acid, or RNA, is the other nucleic acid). DNA is found in the nucleus of every human cell. (See the sidebar at the bottom of the page for more about RNA and different types of cells). The information in DNA:

guides the cell (along with RNA) in making new proteins that determine all of our biological traits gets passed (copied) from one generation to the next

The key to all of these functions is found in the molecular structure of DNA, as described by Watson and Crick. Although it may look complicated, the DNA in a cell is really just a pattern made up of four different parts called nucleotides. Imagine a set of blocks that has only four shapes, or an alphabet that has only four letters. DNA is a long string of these blocks or letters. Each nucleotide consists of a sugar (deoxyribose) bound on one side to a phosphate group and bound on the other side to a nitrogenous base. There are two classes of nitrogen bases called purines (double-ringed structures) and pyrimidines (single-ringed structures). The four bases in DNA's alphabet are:

adenine (A) - a purine cytosine(C) - a pyrimidine

guanine (G) - a purine thymine (T) - a pyrimidine

Strands of DNA are made of the sugar and phosphate portions of the nucleotides, while the middle parts are made of the nitrogenous bases. The nitrogenous bases on the two strands of DNA pair up, purine with pyrimidine (A with T, G with C), and are held together by weak hydrogen bonds.

Watson and Crick discovered that DNA had two sides, or strands, and that these strands were twisted together like a twisted ladder -- the double helix. The sides of the ladder comprise the sugar-phosphate portions of adjacent nucleotides bonded together. The phosphate of one nucleotide is covalently bound (a bond in which one or more pairs of electrons are shared by two atoms) to the sugar of the next nucleotide. The hydrogen bonds between phosphates cause the DNA strand to twist. The nitrogenous bases point inward on the ladder and form pairs with bases on the other side, like rungs. Each base pair is formed from two complementary nucleotides (purine with pyrimidine)

bound together by hydrogen bonds. The base pairs in DNA areadenine with thymine andcytosine with guanine.

DNA has a spiral staircase-like structure. The steps are formed by the nitrogen bases of the nucleotides where adenine pairs with thymine and cytosine with guanine. Photo courtesy U.S. National Library of Medicine

In the next section we'll find out how long DNA strands fit inside a tiny cell.
HYDROGEN BOND

A hydrogen bond is a weak chemical bond that occurs between hydrogen atoms and more electronegative atoms, like oxygen, nitrogen and fluorine. The participating atoms can be located on the same molecule (adjacent nucleotides) or on different molecules (adjacent nucleotides on different DNA strands). Hydrogen bonds do not involve the exchange or sharing of electrons like covalent and ionic bonds. The weak attraction is like that between the opposite poles of a magnet. Hydrogen bonds occur over short distances and can be easily formed and broken. They can also stabilize a molecule.

Like the one ring of power in Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings," deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the master molecule of every cell. It contains vital information that gets passed on to each successive generation. It coordinates the making of itself as well as other molecules (proteins). If it is changed slightly, serious consequences may result. If it is destroyed beyond repair, the cell dies. Changes in the DNA of cells in multicellular organisms produce variations in the characteristics of a species. Over long periods of time, natural selection acts on these variations to evolve or change the species. The presence or absence of DNA evidence at a crime scene could mean the difference between a guilty verdict and an acquittal. DNA is so important that the United States government has spent enormous amounts of money to unravel the sequence of DNA in the human genome in hopes of understanding and finding cures for many genetic diseases. Finally, from the DNA of one cell, we can clone an animal, a plant or perhaps even a human being. But what is DNA? Where is it found? What makes it so special? How does it work? In this article, we will look deep into the structure of DNA and explain how it makes itself and how it determines all of your traits. First, let's look at how DNA was discovered. DNA is one of a class of molecules called nucleic acids. Nucleic acids were originally discovered in 1868 by Friedrich Meischer, a Swiss biologist, who isolated DNA from pus cells on bandages. Although Meischer suspected that nucleic acids might contain genetic information, he could not confirm it. In 1943, Oswald Avery and colleagues at Rockefeller University showed that DNA taken from a bacterium,Streptococcus pneumonia, could make non-infectious bacteria become infectious. These results indicated that DNA was the information-containing molecule in the cell. The information role of DNA was further supported in 1952 when Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase demonstrated that to make new viruses, abacteriophage virus injected DNA, not protein, into the host cell (see How Viruses Work for more information).

So scientists had theorized about the informational role of DNA for a long time, but nobody knew how this information was encoded and transmitted. Many scientists guessed that the structure of the molecule was important to this process. In 1953, James D. Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA at Cambridge University. The story was described in James Watson's book "The Double Helix" and brought to the screen in the movie, "The Race for the Double Helix." Basically, Watson and Crick used molecular modeling techniques and data from other investigators (including Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin, Erwin Chargaff and Linus Pauling) to solve the structure of DNA. Watson, Crick and Wilkins received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of DNA's structure (Franklin, who was Wilkins' collaborator and provided a key piece of data that revealed the structure to Watson and Crick, died before the prize was awarded).