Bacteria-based biocomputing with Cellular Computing Circuits to sense, decide, signal, and act

Abstract

Although the term ‘Biocomputing’ may bring to mind biological replacements of silicon processors; this type of application is far in the future. Use of bacteria-based Biocomputing for biosensors and industrial fermentation control, however, is presently attainable by using genetically-engineered bacterial cells that can process signals in a logical operation via one or a few pathways. Here, we refer to these systems as ‘Cellular Computing Circuits’ and focus on their possible future implementations. We also briefly discuss concepts from Synthetic Biology and enzyme-based Biocomputing because they will be important during future development. Our lab has already transformed an idea from enzyme-based Biocomputing into a bacteria-based Boolean logic gate with a digital output signal of direct electric current and we suggest future applications in this perspective. We predict useful functions for Cellular Computing Circuits in the near future.