The concept of DNA computing came about as a way to address storage density issues because of the exploding volumes of data information. Theoretically, a gram of single-stranded DNA is capable of storing over 400 exabytes (order of 10 bytes) of data at a density of two bits per nucleotide. Leonard Adleman is credited with having established the field in 1994. Recently, molecular logic gate systems have been utilized in DNA computing models.
Massey and coworkers constructed photonic DNA molecular logic circuits using cascades of AND, OR, NAND, and NOR molecular logic gates. They used lanthanide complexes as fluorescent markers, and their luminescent outputs were detected by FRET-based devices at the terminals of DNA strands. Works by Campbell et al. on demonstrating NOT, AND, OR, and XNOR logic systems based on DNA crossover tiles, Bader and co. on manipulating the DNA G-quadruplex structure to realize YES, AND, and OR logic operations, and Chatterjee and coworkers on constructing logic gates using reactive DNA hairpins on DNA origami surfaces are some examples that mark the progress in the field of logic gate-based DNA computing.