Fig. 1: Concept of heat-powered reusable molecular circuits.
From: Heat-rechargeable computation in DNA logic circuits and neural networks
a, A use-once molecular circuit. Balls with distinct colours indicate monomers with distinct identities. Free monomers can bind to each other if they have the same colour. Dimers with two colours indicate the kinetically trapped monomers. Through transient interactions, input monomers can break bonds in dimers that have a monomer with a matching colour. b, A reusable molecular circuit. The dashed lines indicate strong and flexible linkages between monomers, which are independent of weak bonds. Heat can break any weak bonds but not strong linkages. Inputs are low-concentration catalysts, which are removed when heat is applied. c, A use-once DNA catalyst. d, A reusable DNA catalyst. Coloured lines indicate strands with arrowheads marking their 3′ ends. S, T and Y are domain names, and S*, T* and Y* indicate their complementary domains. T indicates a toehold for initiating strand displacement. S and Y indicate two distinct long domains that specify the identities of the input and output, respectively.
