title: A novel bio-sensor based on DNA strand displacement.
abstract: DNA strand displacement technology performs well in sensing and programming DNA segments. In this work, we construct DNA molecular systems based on DNA strand displacement performing computation of logic gates. Specifically, a class of so-called "DNA neurons" are achieved, in which a "smart" way inspired by biological neurons encoding information is developed to encode and deliver information using DNA molecules. The "DNA neuron" is bistable, that is, it can sense DNA molecules as input signals, and release "negative" or "positive" signals DNA molecules. We design intelligent DNA molecular systems that are constructed by cascading some particularly organized "DNA neurons", which could perform logic computation, including AND, OR, XOR logic gates, automatically. Both simulation results using visual DSD (DNA strand displacement) software and experimental results are obtained, which shows that the proposed systems can detect DNA signals with high sensitivity and accretion; moreover, the systems can process input signals automatically with complex nonlinear logic. The method proposed in this work may provide a new way to construct a sensitive molecular signal detection system with neurons spiking behavior in vitro, and can be used to develop intelligent molecular processing systems in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Image Information Processing and Intelligent Control, School of Automation, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Xiaolong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Image Information Processing and Intelligent Control, School of Automation, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Zhiyu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Image Information Processing and Intelligent Control, School of Automation, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Chenyan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Image Information Processing and Intelligent Control, School of Automation, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Image Information Processing and Intelligent Control, School of Automation, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Linqiang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Image Information Processing and Intelligent Control, School of Automation, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Zhihua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D039301:Computers, Molecular; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D016650:Fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate / Q000737:chemistry; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides / Q000737:chemistry; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D004247:DNA; D016650:Fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate