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Chapter XIV
Biomolecular Computing
Devices in Synthetic Biology
Jesús M. Miró
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Spain
Alfonso Rodríguez-Patón
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Spain
AbSTRACT
Synthetic biology and biomolecular computation are disciplines that fuse when it comes to designing
and building information processing devices. In this chapter, we study several devices that are repre-
sentative of this fusion. These are three gene circuits implementing logic gates, a DNA nanodevice and
a biomolecular automaton. The operation of these devices is based on gene expression regulation, the
so-called competitive hybridization and the workings of certain biomolecules like restriction enzymes
or regulatory proteins. Synthetic biology, biomolecular computation, systems biology and standard
molecular biology concepts are also defined to give a better understanding of the chapter. The aim is to
acquaint readers with these biomolecular devices born of the marriage between synthetic biology and
biomolecular computation.
INTRODUCTION
these new fields are multidisciplinary. They feed
off different areas like physics, chemistry, math-
ematics or computing. Of these new disciplines,
this chapter will examine synthetic biology and
biomolecular computation, but not separately,
together, linking the two fields. The goal of this
union is to study, design, simulate and implement
new biomolecular systems capable of making
Molecular biology, biochemistry and genetics
have been and are the most important drivers
of cellular biology. However, new disciplines
examining biological processes have emerged.
They have ventured new viewpoints and offered
a wide range of possibilities for both generating
and applying knowledge in other areas. Most of
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