The Inference Based on Molecular Computing

Molecular computing is a new paradigm to perform calculations using nanotechnology. This paper presents the overall research direction from which molecular inference and expert systems are emerging. It introduces the subject matter and a general description of the problems involved. This includes selected methods of knowledge representation by DNA oligonucleotides, strategies of the inference mechanism, concept of the inference engine based on circular DNA molecules, particularly derived from plasmids, practical experience in DNA inference engine implementation, and discussion of the experimental results. The approach allows evaluating logical statements and drawing inferences for generating other statements via DNA computing. Series of experiments have been conducted to confirm practical utility of this approach. In these experiments, parameters of biochemical reactions were varied to determine truth/false recognition accuracy. In addition, we discuss the fundamental issues of inference engine and try to enhance physical insight into the dominating features of the approach proposed.