Paul Rothemund: The astonishing promise of DNA folding

Traducător: Ariana Bleau Lugo Corector: Brandusa Gheorghe

So, people argue vigorously about the definition of life.

Oamenii au pareri foarte diferite asupra definitiei vietii.

They ask if it should have reproduction in it, or metabolism, or evolution.

Se intreaba daca ar trebui sa includa reproductie, metabolism, sau evolutie.

And I don't know the answer to that, so I'm not going to tell you.

Eu nu stiu raspunsul, deci nu vi-l pot spune.

I will say that life involves computation.

Sustin insa ca viata presupune calcule.

So this is a computer program.

Acesta este un program de calculator.

Booted up in a cell, the program would execute,

Implementat intr-o celula, programul s-ar executa

and it could result in this person;

si ar putea produce aceasta persoana,

or with a small change, it could result in this person;

ori cu o mica schimbare ar putea rezulta in aceasta persoana --

or another small change, this person;

sau cu o alta mica modificare --- aceasta persoana,

or with a larger change, this dog,

cu o modificare mai mare, acest caine

or this tree, or this whale.

sau acest copac, ori aceasta balena.

So now, if you take this metaphor

Daca iei in serios aceasta metafora

[of] genome as program seriously,

de a privi genomul ca pe un program,

you have to consider that Chris Anderson

trebuie sa admiti ca Chris Anderson

is a computer-fabricated artifact, as is Jim Watson,

e un artefact fabricat de computer, la fel si Jim Watson,

Craig Venter, as are all of us.

Craig Venter, si noi toti.

And in convincing yourself that this metaphor is true,

Si ca sa va convingeti ca aceasta metafora este adevarata,

there are lots of similarities between genetic programs

considerati numeroasele similaritati

and computer programs that could help to convince you.

intre programele genetice si cele de calculator.

But one, to me, that's most compelling

Pentru mine cea mai convingatoare

is the peculiar sensitivity to small changes

e sensibilitatea specifica la variaţii minore

that can make large changes in biological development -- the output.

care atrag schimbari majore in dezvoltarea biologica finala.

A small mutation can take a two-wing fly

O mutatie minora poate transforma o musca cu doua aripi

and make it a four-wing fly.

intr-una cu patru aripi.

Or it could take a fly and put legs where its antennae should be.

Ori ar putea pune picioruse in locul antenelor.

Or if you're familiar with "The Princess Bride,"

Sau daca ti-e cunoscuta povestea "The Princess Bride"

it could create a six-fingered man.

ar putea crea un om cu sase degete.

Now, a hallmark of computer programs

Ei bine, o caracteristica a programelor de calculator

is just this kind of sensitivity to small changes.

este chiar acest tip de sensibilitate la variatii mici.

If your bank account's one dollar, and you flip a single bit,

Daca ai intr-un cont bancar $1 si modifici un singur bit

you could end up with a thousand dollars.

te poti trezi cu $1.000.

So these small changes are things that I think

Deci, faptul ca mutatii minore

that -- they indicate to us that a complicated computation

produc modificari amplificate

in development is underlying these amplified, large changes.

indica prezenta unui proces complex de procesare.

So now, all of this indicates that there are molecular programs underlying biology,

Toate acestea demonstreaza ca exista programe moleculare la baza biologiei

and it shows the power of molecular programs -- biology does.

a caror putere ne-o demonstreaza biologia.

And what I want to do is write molecular programs,

Si ce vreau eu sa fac e sa scriu programe moleculare

potentially to build technology.

cu potential in dezvoltarea de tehnologie.

And there are a lot of people doing this,

Exista o multime de oameni care fac acest lucru,

a lot of synthetic biologists doing this, like Craig Venter.

o multime de biologi de sinteza cum e Craig Venter,

And they concentrate on using cells.

care insa se concentreaza pe utilizarea intregii celule.

They're cell-oriented.

Ei se focalizeaza pe celula in intregime.

So my friends, molecular programmers, and I

Dar eu si prietenii mei, programatori moleculari,

have a sort of biomolecule-centric approach.

avem o abordare cu pornire de la bio-molecule.

We're interested in using DNA, RNA and protein,

Suntem interesati in utilizarea de ADN, ARN si proteine

and building new languages for building things from the bottom up,

si in implementarea de noi limbi de programare

using biomolecules,

pentru construirea de jos in sus, folosind bio-molecule,

potentially having nothing to do with biology.

cu posibilitatea de a nu avea nimic de-a face cu biologia.

So, these are all the machines in a cell.

Acestea sunt toate mecanismele dintr-o celula.

There's a camera.

Exista un aparat de fotografiat.

There's the solar panels of the cell,

Exista panourile solare ale celulei,

some switches that turn your genes on and off,

intrerupatoare care aprind sau sting genele,

the girders of the cell, motors that move your muscles.

grinzi ale celulei, motoare care misca muschii.

My little group of molecular programmers

Echipa mea de programatori moleculari

are trying to refashion all of these parts from DNA.

incearca sa refasoneze toate aceste parti folosind ADN.

We're not DNA zealots, but DNA is the cheapest,

Nu suntem fanatici ai ADN-ului, dar ADN-ul e cel mai ieftin,

easiest to understand and easy to program material to do this.

cel mai usor de inteles si e un material simplu de programat.

And as other things become easier to use --

Si pe masura ce alte lucruri devin mai usor de utilizat --

maybe protein -- we'll work with those.

poate proteine -- vom lucra cu acelea în viitor.

If we succeed, what will molecular programming look like?

Si daca reusim, in ce va consta programarea moleculara?

You're going to sit in front of your computer.

Veti sta in fata calculatorului.

You're going to design something like a cell phone,

Veti concepe ceva de genul unui telefon mobil

and in a high-level language, you'll describe that cell phone.

si, intr-un limbaj de nivel inalt, veti descrie acel telefon mobil.

Then you're going to have a compiler

Apoi veti avea un compilator

that's going to take that description

care va implementa acest program de descriere

and it's going to turn it into actual molecules

si-l va transforma in bio-molecule reale,

that can be sent to a synthesizer

care pot fi trimise la un sintetizator

and that synthesizer will pack those molecules into a seed.

unde moleculele vor fi impachetate intr-o samanta.

And what happens if you water and feed that seed appropriately,

Si ce se intampla daca uzi si hranesti acea samanta cum trebuie,

is it will do a developmental computation,

este ca va face un calcul de dezvoltare,

a molecular computation, and it'll build an electronic computer.

un calcul molecular, si va construi un computer electronic.

And if I haven't revealed my prejudices already,

Si daca nu mi-am dat inca de gol prejudecatile

I think that life has been about molecular computers

consider ca viata se poate reduce la computere moleculare

building electrochemical computers,

care construiesc computere electrochimice

building electronic computers,

care construiesc computere electronice

which together with electrochemical computers

care impreuna cu computerele electrochimice

will build new molecular computers,

vor construi computere moleculare noi

which will build new electronic computers, and so forth.

care vor construi noi computere electronice si asa mai departe.

And if you buy all of this,

Si daca esti de acord cu toate astea,

and you think life is about computation, as I do,

si crezi ca viata e in intregime calcul, asa cum fac eu,

then you look at big questions through the eyes of a computer scientist.

atunci privesti intrebarile vitale prin ochii unui programator.

So one big question is, how does a baby know when to stop growing?

Deci o intrebare importanta e, cum ştie copilul cand sa nu mai creasca?

And for molecular programming,

Pentru un programator molecular,

the question is how does your cell phone know when to stop growing?

intrebarea e: cum stie telefonul tau cand sa se opreasca din creştere?

(Laughter)

(Rasete)

Or how does a computer program know when to stop running?

Sau cum stie un program de calculator cand sa se opreasca?

Or more to the point, how do you know if a program will ever stop?

Ori si mai concret, cum stim daca se va opri vreodata?

There are other questions like this, too.

Mai exista si alt gen de intrebari.

One of them is Craig Venter's question.

Una dintre ele e intrebarea lui Craig Venter.

Turns out I think he's actually a computer scientist.

De fapt se pare ca el gandeste ca un programator.

He asked, how big is the minimal genome

El a intrebat cat de mare trebuie sa fie genomul minim

that will give me a functioning microorganism?

care ar genera un microorganism funcţional.

How few genes can I use?

Cat de putine gene pot folosi?

This is exactly analogous to the question,

Asta e similara cu intrebarea

what's the smallest program I can write

care-i cel mai mic program pe care-l pot scrie

that will act exactly like Microsoft Word?

care sa opereze exact ca Microsoft Word ?

(Laughter)

(Rasete)

And just as he's writing, you know, bacteria that will be smaller,

Si la fel cum el concepe, stiti, bacterii care vor fi mai mici,

he's writing genomes that will work,

concepe genomuri care vor functiona,

we could write smaller programs

noi am putea scrie programe mai mici

that would do what Microsoft Word does.

care sa functioneze ca Microsoft Word.

But for molecular programming, our question is,

Insa in cazul programarii moleculare, intrebarea devine

how many molecules do we need to put in that seed to get a cell phone?

cate molecule trebuie sa impachetam intr-o samanta pentru a obtine un celular.

What's the smallest number we can get away with?

Care-i cel mai mic numar cu care ne-am putea descurca?

Now, these are big questions in computer science.

Acestea sunt intrebari complexe,

These are all complexity questions,

iar stiinta calculatoarelor confirma

and computer science tells us that these are very hard questions.

ca acestea sunt intrebari foarte grele.

Almost -- many of them are impossible.

Multe dintre ele par intrebari imposibile.

But for some tasks, we can start to answer them.

Dar pentru unele din ele putem incepe sa raspundem.

So, I'm going to start asking those questions

Deci, voi incepe sa pun acele intrebari

for the DNA structures I'm going to talk about next.

pentru structurile ADN de care voi vorbi in continuare.

So, this is normal DNA, what you think of as normal DNA.

Acesta este ADN-ul normal.

It's double-stranded, it's a double helix,

E un helix cu catena dubla,

has the As, Ts, Cs and Gs that pair to hold the strands together.

in care bazele A, T, C si G se cupleaza pentru a sustine helixul.

And I'm going to draw it like this sometimes,

Si il voi desena uneori liniar, simplificat

just so I don't scare you.

ca sa nu va sperii.

We want to look at individual strands and not think about the double helix.

Vrem sa ne uitam la catene singulare si nu la helixul dublu.

When we synthesize it, it comes single-stranded,

Cand il sintetizam il obtinem sub forma mono-catenara,

so we can take the blue strand in one tube

astfel incat putem sintetiza lantul albastru intr-un tub

and make an orange strand in the other tube,

si lantul portocaliu in alt tub.

and they're floppy when they're single-stranded.

Lanturile ADN cand sunt mono-catenare sunt flexibile.

You mix them together and they make a rigid double helix.

Doar cand le amesteci se cupleaza intr-un helix dublu rigid.

Now for the last 25 years,

Ei bine, in ultimii 25 de ani,

Ned Seeman and a bunch of his descendants

Ned Seeman si multi din urmasii lui

have worked very hard and made beautiful three-dimensional structures

au lucrat din greu si au realizat frumoase structuri tridimensionale

using this kind of reaction of DNA strands coming together.

folosind acest tip de reactie de cuplare a secventelor monocatenare de ADN.

But a lot of their approaches, though elegant, take a long time.

Dar multe din metodele lor, desi elegante, sunt laborioase.

They can take a couple of years, or it can be difficult to design.

Pot dura si doi ani iar design-ul poate fi dificil de programat.

So I came up with a new method a couple of years ago

Asa ca acum doi ani am inventat o metoda noua,

I call DNA origami

o numesc ADN-origami,

that's so easy you could do it at home in your kitchen

care-i atat de simpla ca ati putea-o folosi acasa, in bucatarie

and design the stuff on a laptop.

si-ati putea programa totul pe un laptop.

But to do it, you need a long, single strand of DNA,

Dar pentru asta aveti nevoie de un lant lung monocatenar de ADN,

which is technically very difficult to get.

care e, tehnic vorbind, foarte dificil de obtinut.

So, you can go to a natural source.

In schimb, poti cauta o sursa naturala.

You can look in this computer-fabricated artifact,

Te poti uita la acest artefact fabricat-de-computer

and he's got a double-stranded genome -- that's no good.

dar este dublu-catenar asa ca nu ne e folositor.

You look in his intestines. There are billions of bacteria.

Te poti uita in intestinele lui. Sunt miliarde de bacterii.

They're no good either.

Nici astea nu sunt bune.

Double strand again, but inside them, they're infected with a virus

Din nou dublu-catenare, dar in interior sunt infectate cu un virus

that has a nice, long, single-stranded genome

al carui genom e un frumos lant lung de ADN-singular

that we can fold like a piece of paper.

pe care-l putem impaturi ca pe o bucata de hartie.

And here's how we do it.

Si iata cum facem.

This is part of that genome.

Acesta e o parte din acel genom.

We add a bunch of short, synthetic DNAs that I call staples.

Adaugam o gramada de ADN-uri sintetice scurte, pe care le numesc capse.

Each one has a left half that binds the long strand in one place,

Jumatatea stanga a fiecarei capse se leaga de catena lunga intr-un loc

and a right half that binds it in a different place,

si jumatatea dreapta se leaga intr-un loc diferit

and brings the long strand together like this.

si impatureste firul lung de ADN singular asa.

The net action of many of these on that long strand

Efectul final al multor capse asupra acelei monocatene lungi

is to fold it into something like a rectangle.

este o impaturire asemanatoare unui dreptunghi.

Now, we can't actually take a movie of this process,

Din pacate nu putem filma acest proces efectiv,

but Shawn Douglas at Harvard

dar Shawn Douglas la Harvard

has made a nice visualization for us

ne-a facut o frumoasa vizualizare virtuala,

that begins with a long strand and has some short strands in it.

care incepe cu un lant ADN lung si are cateva catene scurte.

And what happens is that we mix these strands together.

Apoi aceste catene lungi si scurte se amesteca impreuna.

We heat them up, we add a little bit of salt,

Le incalzim, adaugam un pic de sare,

we heat them up to almost boiling and cool them down,

le incalzim pana aproape de fierbere si apoi le racim.

and as we cool them down,

In timp ce se racesc,

the short strands bind the long strands

capsele scurte se prind de catena lunga

and start to form structure.

si incep sa formeze structura;

And you can see a little bit of double helix forming there.

si vedeti cum incepe sa se formeze un helix dublu acolo.

When you look at DNA origami,

Cand te uiti la acest ADN-origami,

you can see that what it really is,

poti vedea ce este in realitate,

even though you think it's complicated,

si chiar daca pare complicat,

is a bunch of double helices that are parallel to each other,

nu-i decat o gramada de helixuri duble paralele între ele,

and they're held together

care sunt legate de coturi

by places where short strands go along one helix

unde unele capse scurte se leaga de o spirala

and then jump to another one.

si apoi sar la alta.

So there's a strand that goes like this, goes along one helix and binds --

Iata o capsa care merge de-a lungul unei spirale

it jumps to another helix and comes back.

si apoi sare la un alt helix si face un cot in forma de U,

That holds the long strand like this.

si tine lantul lung de ADN asa.

Now, to show that we could make any shape or pattern

Pentru a demonstra ca putem asambla orice forma sau model

that we wanted, I tried to make this shape.

dorim, am incercat sa asamblez forma asta.

I wanted to fold DNA into something that goes up over the eye,

Am vrut sa impaturesc ADN-ul in ceva care se infasoara

down the nose, up the nose, around the forehead,

in jurul ochiului, nasului, in jurul fruntii,

back down and end in a little loop like this.

inapoi in jos si se incheie intr-o mica bucla.

And so, I thought, if this could work, anything could work.

M-am gandit ca daca aceasta forma se poate programa, orice altceva se poate.

So I had the computer program design the short staples to do this.

Deci cu ajutorul computerului am programat capsele necesare pentru a face asta.

I ordered them; they came by FedEx.

Le-am comandat, au venit prin FedEx.

I mixed them up, heated them, cooled them down,

Le-am amestecat, le-am incalzit, le-am racit,

and I got 50 billion little smiley faces

si am obtinut 50 miliarde de ‘feţe zâmbitoare’ microscopice

floating around in a single drop of water.

plutind toate intr-o singura picatura de apa.

And each one of these is just

Fiecare dintre acestea este doar

one-thousandth the width of a human hair, OK?

o miime din latimea unui fir de par uman, bine?

So, they're all floating around in solution, and to look at them,

Deci, toate plutesc in solutie si pentru a te uita la ele,

you have to get them on a surface where they stick.

trebuie aduse pe o suprafata uscata de care sa se lipeasca.

So, you pour them out onto a surface

Le torni pe o suprafaţa,

and they start to stick to that surface,

ele incep sa se prinda pe acea suprafata,

and we take a picture using an atomic-force microscope.

si facem o poza folosind un microscop de forta atomica (AFM).

It's got a needle, like a record needle,

Acesta are un ac, ca un ac de inregistrat,

that goes back and forth over the surface,

care merge inainte si inapoi, pe deasupra suprafetei,

bumps up and down, and feels the height of the first surface.

gliseaza in sus si in jos si apreciaza inaltimea suprafetei.

It feels the DNA origami.

'Simte' ADN-ul origami.

There's the atomic-force microscope working

Iata microscopul atomic la lucru,

and you can see that the landing's a little rough.

puteti vedea ca aterizarea e putin cam dura.

When you zoom in, they've got, you know,

Cand focalizam, au, dupa cum vedeti,

weak jaws that flip over their heads

unele maxilare sparte si rasucite deasupra capetelor,

and some of their noses get punched out, but it's pretty good.

iar unele dintre nasuri sunt busite, dar in general e destul de bine.

You can zoom in and even see the extra little loop,

Puteti focaliza si vedea chiar mica bucla,

this little nano-goatee.

acest nano-cioculet mititel.

Now, what's great about this is anybody can do this.

Ce-i grozav la acest procedeu este ca oricine poate face asta.

And so, I got this in the mail about a year after I did this, unsolicited.

Si deci am primit asta in posta cam la un an dupa ce-am facut asta, nesolicitat.

Anyone know what this is? What is it?

Stie cineva ce este asta? Ce este?

It's China, right?

E harta Chinei, nu-i asa?

So, what happened is, a graduate student in China,

Deci, ce s-a intamplat este ca o studenta din China,

Lulu Qian, did a great job.

Lulu Qian, a facut o treaba grozava.

She wrote all her own software

Si-a programat propriul ei software

to design and built this DNA origami,

ca sa proiecteze si sa asambleze acest origami ADN,

a beautiful rendition of China, which even has Taiwan,

o frumoasa reprezentare a Chinei, care are chiar si Taiwan-ul,

and you can see it's sort of on the world's shortest leash, right?

dupa cum vedeti legat prin cea mai scurta lesa din lume, corect?

(Laughter)

(Rasete)

So, this works really well

Deci, asta functioneaza foarte bine,

and you can make patterns as well as shapes, OK?

poti construi diferite modele si forme.

And you can make a map of the Americas and spell DNA with DNA.

Poti face o harta a Americilor si poti scrie literele ADN folosind ADN.

And what's really neat about it --

Si ce este cu adevarat elegant –

well, actually, this all looks like nano-artwork,

e ca toate astea arata ca o nano-opera-de-arta,

but it turns out that nano-artwork

dar se pare ca nano-operele-de-arta

is just what you need to make nano-circuits.

sunt exact ce ai nevoie pentru a face nano-circuite.

So, you can put circuit components on the staples,

Deci, poti atasa componente de circuit pe capse,

like a light bulb and a light switch.

cum ar fi un bec electric si un intrerupator.

Let the thing assemble, and you'll get some kind of a circuit.

Lasa-le sa se asambleze si vei obtine un fel de circuit.

And then you can maybe wash the DNA away and have the circuit left over.

Si apoi poti spala ADN-ul remanent si ce ramane e circuitul.

So, this is what some colleagues of mine at Caltech did.

Exact asta au facut niste colegi de-ai mei de la Caltech.

They took a DNA origami, organized some carbon nano-tubes,

Au luat un origami ADN, au organizat niste nano-tuburi de carbon,

made a little switch, you see here, wired it up,

au facut un mic comutator, l-au legat,

tested it and showed that it is indeed a switch.

l-au testat si au aratat ca este intr-adevar un comutator.

Now, this is just a single switch

Ei bine, acesta e doar un singur comutator

and you need half a billion for a computer, so we have a long way to go.

si e nevoie de o jumatate de miliard pentru un computer, deci avem mult de mers.

But this is very promising

Dar e foarte promitator,

because the origami can organize parts just one-tenth the size

intrucat cu origami se pot organiza piese de doar o zecime din dimensiunea

of those in a normal computer.

celor dintr-un computer normal.

So it's very promising for making small computers.

Deci, metoda e foarte promitatoare pentru a face computere mici.

Now, I want to get back to that compiler.

Acum, vreau sa ma intorc la compilator.

The DNA origami is a proof that that compiler actually works.

ADN-origami este o dovada ca de fapt compilatorul functioneaza.

So, you start with something in the computer.

Deci, se incepe cu programul in calculator.

You get a high-level description of the computer program,

Se obtine o descriere in limbaj de programare de înalt nivel,

a high-level description of the origami.

o descriere a acestui origami.

You can compile it to molecules, send it to a synthesizer,

Poti sa-l compilezi si sa obtii astfel moleculele, sa le trimiţi la un sintetizator

and it actually works.

si chiar functioneaza.

And it turns out that a company has made a nice program

Si se pare ca o companie a facut un program frumos,

that's much better than my code, which was kind of ugly,

care e mult mai bun decat codul meu, care era cam urat,

and will allow us to do this in a nice,

care ne va permite sa facem intr-un mod elegant

visual, computer-aided design way.

acest gen de design asistat de calculator.

So, now you can say, all right,

Deci, acum ai putea intreba, bine,

why isn't DNA origami the end of the story?

de ce nu este ADN-origami sfarsitul povestii ?

You have your molecular compiler, you can do whatever you want.

Ai compilatorul molecular, poti programa orice vrei.

The fact is that it does not scale.

In realitate metoda nu se aplica bine la scara mare.

So if you want to build a human from DNA origami,

Daca vrei sa construiesti un om din ADN-origami,

the problem is, you need a long strand

problema e ca trebuie sa pornesti de la un lant lung

that's 10 trillion trillion bases long.

de 10 trilioane de trilioane de baze.

That's three light years' worth of DNA,

Asta-i egal cu trei ani lumina de ADN,

so we're not going to do this.

deci nu vom face asta.

We're going to turn to another technology,

In schimb vom considera o alta tehnologie

called algorithmic self-assembly of tiles.

numita auto-asamblare algoritmica de dale.

It was started by Erik Winfree,

Tehnologia a fost initiata de Erik Winfree,

and what it does,

si ce face ea,

it has tiles that are a hundredth the size of a DNA origami.

are dale care sunt a suta parte din marimea unui ADN-origami.

You zoom in, there are just four DNA strands

Fiecare placuta e alcatuita din patru secvente de ADN

and they have little single-stranded bits on them

si acestea au bucatele mono-catenate pe ele

that can bind to other tiles, if they match.

care se pot lipi de alte dale daca se potrivesc.

And we like to draw these tiles as little squares.

Pentru simplificare reprezentam aceste dale ca patratele.

And if you look at their sticky ends, these little DNA bits,

Daca te uiti la capetele lipicioase ale acestor bucatele de ADN

you can see that they actually form a checkerboard pattern.

vezi ca formeaza de fapt o structura ca tabla de sah.

So, these tiles would make a complicated, self-assembling checkerboard.

Deci, aceste placi se auto-asambleaza intr-o tabla de sah complicata.

And the point of this, if you didn't catch that,

Esentialul este, in caz ca nu v-ati dat seama,

is that tiles are a kind of molecular program

ca aceste placute asamblate sunt un fel de program molecular

and they can output patterns.

care poate crea modele.

And a really amazing part of this is

Si o parte cu adevarat uimitoare a acestui fapt

that any computer program can be translated

e ca orice program de calculator poate fi tradus

into one of these tile programs -- specifically, counting.

intr-un astfel de program de placute ADN -- cum ar fi un algoritm de numarare.

So, you can come up with a set of tiles

Deci, puteti asambla un set de placute ADN

that when they come together, form a little binary counter

care alcatuiesc mai degraba un mic sistem de numaratoare binara

rather than a checkerboard.

decat o tabla de sah.

So you can read off binary numbers five, six and seven.

Astfel puteti citi numere binare, cinci, şase şi şapte.

And in order to get these kinds of computations started right,

Ca sa pornim corect acest gen de calcule,

you need some kind of input, a kind of seed.

avem nevoie de date de intrare, un fel de samanta.

You can use DNA origami for that.

Putem folosi ADN-origami pentru asta.

You can encode the number 32

Codificam numarul 32

in the right-hand side of a DNA origami,

in partea dreapta a unui ADN-origami

and when you add those tiles that count,

si cand adaugam acele placute care numara

they will start to count -- they will read that 32

ele vor incepe sa numere, sa citeasca acel 32

and they'll stop at 32.

si se vor opri la 32.

So, what we've done is we've figured out a way

Deci, ce am realizat este ca am gasit o metoda

to have a molecular program know when to stop going.

de a determina un program molecular sa stie cand sa se opreasca din crestere.

It knows when to stop growing because it can count.

Stie cand sa se opreasca din crestere pentru ca stie sa numere.

It knows how big it is.

Stie cat este de mare.

So, that answers that sort of first question I was talking about.

Prin urmare, asta raspunde la acea prima intrebare pe care am mentionat-o.

It doesn't tell us how babies do it, however.

Nu ne spune insa cum stiu copiii sa se opreasca din crestere.

So now, we can use this counting to try and get at much bigger things

Acum, putem folosi aceasta numarare pentru a asambla sisteme mult mai mari

than DNA origami could otherwise.

decat am fi putut cu metoda ADN-origami.

Here's the DNA origami, and what we can do

Aici e o structura ADN-origami, ce putem face,

is we can write 32 on both edges of the DNA origami,

putem scrie cate un 32 la ambele margini ale ADN-ului origami

and we can now use our watering can

iar apoi folosind stropitoarea

and water with tiles, and we can start growing tiles off of that

si adaugand dale si putem sa initiem o crestere cu ajutorul placutelor

and create a square.

si sa cream un patrat.

The counter serves as a template

Contorul serveste ca un sablon

to fill in a square in the middle of this thing.

care umple acest patrat in mijloc.

So, what we've done is we've succeeded

Prin urmare am reusit sa cream

in making something much bigger than a DNA origami

ceva de marime mult mai mare decat un ADN origami

by combining DNA origami with tiles.

prin combinarea de ADN-origami cu dale.

And the neat thing about it is, is that it's also reprogrammable.

Si partea frumoasa e ca acestea sunt reprogramabile.

You can just change a couple of the DNA strands in this binary representation

Prin schimbarea a doua catene de ADN in aceasta reprezentare binara

and you'll get 96 rather than 32.

se obtine o latura de 96 in loc de 32.

And if you do that, the origami's the same size,

Si daca faci asta, AND-ul origami e de aceeasi marime,

but the resulting square that you get is three times bigger.

dar patratul final e de trei ori mai mare.

So, this sort of recapitulates

Sa recapitulam acum ce va spuneam

what I was telling you about development.

depre cresterea programata.

You have a very sensitive computer program

Aveti un program de computer foarte sensibil

where small changes -- single, tiny, little mutations --

unde schimbari minore -- mutaţii singulare, minore ---

can take something that made one size square

pot lua ceva care a facut un patrat de o anumita marime

and make something very much bigger.

si face o structura mult mai mare.

Now, this -- using counting to compute

Acum, folosirea acestui gen de algoritm

and build these kinds of things

si asamblarea acestui gen de structuri

by this kind of developmental process

prin acest proces de augmentare

is something that also has bearing on Craig Venter's question.

ne ajuta sa raspundem si la intrebarea lui Craig Venter.

So, you can ask, how many DNA strands are required

Deci, puteti intreba, cate catene de ADN sunt necesare

to build a square of a given size?

pentru a construi un patrat de o marime data?

If we wanted to make a square of size 10, 100 or 1,000,

Daca am dori sa realizam un patrat de 10, 100 sau 1.000,

if we used DNA origami alone,

si daca am folosi doar ADN-origami,

we would require a number of DNA strands that's the square

ar fi necesar un numar de monocatene de ADN egal cu

of the size of that square;

acea marime la patrat;

so we'd need 100, 10,000 or a million DNA strands.

deci am avea nevoie de 100, 10.000 respectiv 1.000.000 de catene ADN.

That's really not affordable.

Nu ne putem permite asta.

But if we use a little computation --

Dar daca folosim cateva computatii --

we use origami, plus some tiles that count --

adica folosim origami plus placute care numara --

then we can get away with using 100, 200 or 300 DNA strands.

atunci putem scapa folosind un numar de 100, 200, 300 de lanturi.

And so we can exponentially reduce the number of DNA strands we use,

Si astfel putem reduce exponential numarul de catene ADN necesare

if we use counting, if we use a little bit of computation.

daca folosim ceva calcule.

And so computation is some very powerful way

Prin urmare aceste calcule au potential mare

to reduce the number of molecules you need to build something,

de a reduce numarul de molecule de care ai nevoie ca sa construiesti ceva,

to reduce the size of the genome that you're building.

de a reduce marimea genomului pe care il asamblezi.

And finally, I'm going to get back to that sort of crazy idea

Si in sfarsit, ma voi referi din nou la acea idee indrazneata

about computers building computers.

respectiv computere care construiesc computere.

If you look at the square that you build with the origami

Daca va uitati la patratul construit cu origami

and some counters growing off it,

si la numaratorile care rezulta din acestea

the pattern that it has is exactly the pattern that you need

tiparul pe care il are este exact cel de care ai nevoie

to make a memory.

pentru a crea o memorie.

So if you affix some wires and switches to those tiles --

Acum, daca aplici niste conexiuni si intrerupatoare la acele dale,

rather than to the staple strands, you affix them to the tiles --

in loc sa le aplici pe capse

then they'll self-assemble the somewhat complicated circuits,

atunci se pot auto-asambla circuite destul de complicate ---

the demultiplexer circuits, that you need to address this memory.

circuite de-multiplexer necesare pentru a adresa memoria unui calculator.

So you can actually make a complicated circuit

In concluzie chiar putem construi circuite complicate

using a little bit of computation.

folosind putina computatie.

It's a molecular computer building an electronic computer.

Aici avem un computer molecular care construieste un computer electronic.

Now, you ask me, how far have we gotten down this path?

Poate va intrebati cat de departe am ajuns in aceasta directie.

Experimentally, this is what we've done in the last year.

Experimental, iata ce am facut anul trecut.

Here is a DNA origami rectangle,

Acesta e un dreptunghi de ADN-origami,

and here are some tiles growing from it.

iar aici sunt niste placute care au crescut din el.

And you can see how they count.

Si puteti vedea cum calculeaza ele.

One, two, three, four, five, six, nine, 10, 11, 12, 17.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 17.

So it's got some errors, but at least it counts up.

Observati niste erori, dar cel putin numara in sus.

(Laughter)

(Rasete)

So, it turns out we actually had this idea nine years ago,

De fapt ne-a venit aceasta idee acum noua ani,

and that's about the time constant for how long it takes

dar, considerand constanta de timp necesara realizarii efective,

to do these kinds of things, so I think we made a lot of progress.

consideram ca am progresat mult.

We've got ideas about how to fix these errors.

Avem ceva idei de cum sa reparam aceste erori.

And I think in the next five or 10 years,

Si cred ca in urmatorii 5 sau 10 ani

we'll make the kind of squares that I described

vom face patratelele pe care le-am descris

and maybe even get to some of those self-assembled circuits.

si poate chiar si acele circuite auto-asamblate.

So now, what do I want you to take away from this talk?

In concluzie, cu ce as dori sa ramaneti din aceasta prezentare?

I want you to remember that

As dori sa retineti ca

to create life's very diverse and complex forms,

pentru a crea formele diverse si complexe de viata

life uses computation to do that.

viata foloseste calcule in acest scop.

And the computations that it uses, they're molecular computations,

Aceste calcule sunt computatii moleculare

and in order to understand this and get a better handle on it,

iar in scopul de a le intelege mai bine

as Feynman said, you know,

cum spunea Feyman,

we need to build something to understand it.

trebuie sa le construim ca sa le intelegem.

And so we are going to use molecules and refashion this thing,

Si astfel vom folosi molecule ADN si le vom refasona,

rebuild everything from the bottom up,

reconstruind totul de jos in sus,

using DNA in ways that nature never intended,

folosind ADN-ul in moduri in care natura nu a intentionat niciodata,

using DNA origami,

folosind ADN-origami,

and DNA origami to seed this algorithmic self-assembly.

fie ca atare, fie pentru a initia aceste auto-asamblari algoritmice.

You know, so this is all very cool,

Ei bine, toate acestea sunt grozave,

but what I'd like you to take from the talk,

dar ce mi-ar placea sa retineti din prezentare,

hopefully from some of those big questions,

din acele intrebari majore,

is that this molecular programming isn't just about making gadgets.

este ca aceste programe moleculare

It's not just making about --

nu se reduc doar la a construi dispozitive,

it's making self-assembled cell phones and circuits.

doar la asamblarea de celulare si circuite.

What it's really about is taking computer science

Ceea ce este cu adevarat important e a reusi in procesul de programare

and looking at big questions in a new light,

sa privim intrebarile vietii intr-o lumina noua,

asking new versions of those big questions

sa cream versiuni noi ale acelor intrebari complexe

and trying to understand how biology

si sa incercam sa intelegem cum reuseste biologia

can make such amazing things. Thank you.

sa faca astfel de lucruri uimitoare. Multumesc.

(Applause)

(Aplauze)