Zauner, K.P. and Conrad, M.. "Enzymatic computing." Biotechnol Prog. 17
(3).
2001.
pp. 553-9.
[ .pdf ] [ PubMed ]
The conformational dynamics of enzymes is a computational resource that fuses milieu signals in a nonlinear fashion. Response surface methodology can be used to elicit computational functionality from enzyme dynamics. We constructed a tabletop prototype to implement enzymatic signal processing in a device context and employed it in conjunction with malate dehydrogenase to perform the linearly inseparable exclusive-or operation. This shows that proteins can execute signal processing operations that are more complex than those performed by individual threshold elements. We view the experiments reported, though restricted to the two-variable case, as a stepping stone to computational networks that utilize the precise reproducibility of proteins, and the concomitant reproducibility of their nonlinear dynamics, to implement complex pattern transformations.
Keywords: Calcium_chemistry ; Calcium_metabolism ; Enzymes_*chemistry ; Enzymes_*metabolism ; Image Processing ; Computer-Assisted ; Magnesium_chemistry ; Magnesium_metabolism ; Malate Dehydrogenase_chemistry ; Malate Dehydrogenase_metabolism ; Models Chemical ; *Models Molecular ; Osmolar Concentration ; Protein Conformation