BioLogic, a parallel approach to cell-based logic gates

AbstractIn vivo logic gates have proven difficult to combine into larger devices. Our cell-based logic system, BioLogic, decomposes a large circuit into a collection of small subcircuits working in parallel, each subcircuit responding to a different combination of inputs. A final global output is then generated by a combination of the responses. Using BioLogic, for the first time a completely functional 3-bit full adder and full subtractor were generated using Escherichia coli cells; as well as a calculator-style display that shows a numeric result, from 0 to 7, when the proper 3 bit binary inputs are introduced into the system. BioLogic demonstrates the use of a parallel approach for the design of cell-based logic gates that facilitates the generation and analysis of complex processes, without the need for complex genetic engineering.