Fast parallel molecular algorithms for DNA-based computation: factoring integers
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 16, 2026

DNA-Tethered RNA Polymerase for Programmable In vitro Transcription and Molecular Computation
Published on: December 29, 2021
Weng-Long Chang1, Minyi Guo, Michael Shan-Hui Ho
1Department of Information Management, Southern Taiwan University of Technology, Tainan, Taiwan. changwl@mail.stut.edu.tw
Abstract:
The RSA public-key cryptosystem is an algorithm that converts input data to an unrecognizable encryption and converts the unrecognizable data back into its original decryption form. The security of the RSA public-key cryptosystem is based on the difficulty of factoring the product of two large prime numbers. This paper demonstrates to factor the product of two large prime numbers, and is a breakthrough in basic biological operations using a molecular computer. In order to achieve this, we propose three DNA-based algorithms for parallel subtractor, parallel comparator, and parallel modular arithmetic that formally verify our designed molecular solutions for factoring the product of two large prime numbers. Furthermore, this work indicates that the cryptosystems using public-key are perhaps insecure and also presents clear evidence of the ability of molecular computing to perform complicated mathematical operations.
Related Concept Videos
DNA Isolation
Next-generation Sequencing
Next-Generation Sequencing Methods
Although all next-generation methods use different technologies, they all share a set of standard features.
Maxam-Gilbert Sequencing
Challenges of the Maxam-Gilbert Method
The...
Modern Molecular Taxonomy
Sanger Sequencing
PCR
