Engineering Nucleic Acid Structures for Programmable Intracellular Biocomputation

Intracellular biomolecules, including nucleic acids, proteins, and so on, are spatiotemporally arranged to form interacting networks for performing biofunctions via logic operations. Inspired by that, nucleic acids, enzymes, and other biomolecules have been applied by chemists or biologists to build logic circuits for potential applications in extracellular and intracellular biocomputing. A key goal of developing nucleic acid-based logic machines is to transform them into in vivo applications. Some researchers have integrated the engineering logic system of multi-input information processing and precise regulation and braking in living cells to detect the cell state and make precise in situ regulation in complex physiological environment. Given the self-assembly and programmable nature of nucleic acids, logic machines designed based on nucleic acids have excellent characteristics such as flexible operation, easy regulation, and predictability, providing potential for in-situ research in living cells.