Role of Density Functional Theory in “Ribocomputing Devices”

Molecular computing devices composed of biological substances, such as nucleic acid and ribonucleic acid plays a key role for the logical processing of a variety of inputs and viable outputs in the cellular machinery of all living organisms. These devices are directly dependent on the advancement in DNA and RNA technology. RNA nanoparticles can be engineered into a programmable and logically acting “Ribocomputing Devices”; a breakthrough at the interface of nanotechnology and synthetic biology. It opens a new path to the synthetic biologists to design reliable synthetic biological circuits which can be useful as the electronic circuits. In this emerging field, a number of challenges persist; as how to translate a variety of nucleic acid based logic gates developed by numerous research laboratories into the realm of silicon-based computing. So in this chapter we will discuss the advances in ribonucleic acid (RNA) based computing and it’s potential to serve as an alternative to revolutionize silicon-based technology by theoretical means. Also the results of the calculated parameters with computational tools using Density functional theory and the designed device circuits will be analyzed. chemical modification into nucleotides without significant alteration of the RNA property in folding and self-assembly; tuning the immunogenic properties of synthetic RNA constructs for in vivo applications; role of 2D, 3D, 4D structure and intermolecular interaction of RNA molecules; developing methods to control shape, size, and stoichiometry of RNA nanoparticles; regulation and processing functions of RNA in cells; cost in RNA production by biochemical synthesis; and safety of using RNA due to its therapeutic modality for cancer and other diseases without affecting the other organs.