Economical Benefit of Biocomputers

A hallmark of all biological organisms and the chemical building blocks that comprise them is the ability to self-replicate and self-assemble into functional components; life could not be sustained if living organisms were not capable of replicating themselves. The economical benefit of biocomputers lies in this potential of all biologically derived systems to self-replicate and self-assemble given appropriate conditions (349).² For instance, all of the necessary proteins for a certain biochemical pathway, which can be modified to serve as a biocomputer, can be synthesized many times over inside a biological cell from a single DNA molecule, which can itself be replicated many times over. This characteristic of biological molecules makes their production highly efficient and relatively inexpensive. Whereas non-biological computer components require extensive production processes, the components of biocomputers can be produced in large quantities from tandem processes occurring in a single, easily attainable, convenient source—the replicating machinery present within any biological cel