Biomolecular computing and programming

Molecular computing is a discipline that aims at harnessing individual mole cules at nanoscales for computational purposes. The best-studied molecules for this purpose to date have been DNA and bacteriorhodopsin. Biomolecular computing allows one to realistically entertain, for the first time in hist ory, the possibility of exploiting the massive parallelism at nanoscales in herent in natural phenomena to solve computational problems. The implementa tion of evolutionary algorithms in biomolecules would bring full circle the biological analogy and present an attractive alternative to meet large dem ands for computational power. This paper presents a review of the most impo rtant advances in biomolecular computing in the last fem years. Major achie vements to date are outlined, both experimental and theoretical, and major potential advances and challenges for practitioners in the foreseeable futu re are identified. A list of sources and major events in the field has been compiled in the Appendix, although no exhaustive survey of the expanding l iterature is intended.