Paul Rothemund: Casting spells with DNA

Prevodilac: Jelena Nedjic Lektor: Ana Zivanovic-Nenadovic

There's an ancient and universal concept that words have power,

Postoji staro i univerzalno verovanje da reči imaju moć,

that spells exist,

da čini postoje i da, ako bismo samo mogli da izgovorimo prave reči,

and that if we could only pronounce the right words,

then -- whoosh! -- you know, an avalanche would come

tada bi se, znate, odjednom pojavilo čudo

and wipe out the hobbits, right?

koje bi eliminisalo sve hobite, zar ne? Ovo je veoma privlačna ideja

So this is a very attractive idea,

because we're very lazy, like the Sorcerer's Apprentice,

s obzirom da smo veoma lenji,

or the world's greatest computer programmer.

kao učenik čarobnjaka ili najbolji svetski programer.

This idea has a lot of traction with us.

Ova ideja nas veoma privlači.

We love the idea that words, when pronounced,

Sviđa nam se ideja da su izgovorene reči

are little more than pure information,

nešto malo više od čiste informacije,

but they evoke physical action in the real world

da one bude određene fizičke akcije

that helps us do work.

u stvarnom svetu koje nam pomažu da uradimo posao.

Naravno, uz mnogo programiranih računara i

So, of course, with lots of programmable computers

and robots around,

robota oko nas, to je lako zamisliti.

this is an easy thing to picture.

How many of you know what I'm talking about?

Koliko vas zna o čemu pričam?

Raise your right hand.

Podignite desnu ruku. OK.

How many don't know what I'm talking about?

A koliko vas ne zna o čemu pričam? Podignite levu ruku.

Raise your left hand.

To je odlično. Ovo je bilo lako.

So that's great. So that was too easy.

You guys have very insecure computers, OK?

Vi imate nesigurne računare, u redu?

Stvar je u tome što je ovo drukčija vrsta magije.

So now the thing is, this is a different kind of spell.

This is a computer program made of zeros and ones.

Ovo je računarski program napisan nulama i jedinicama.

To može biti izgovoreno na računaru. Ovako nešto čini.

It can be pronounced on a computer, does something like this.

Važno je to da možemo da pišemo na visoko-sofisticiranom jeziku.

The important thing is we can write it in a high-level language.

Računarski čarobnjak može napisati ovu stvar.

A computer magician can write this thing.

To može biti prevedeno u nule i jedinice

It can be compiled into zeros and ones and pronounced by a computer.

i računar to može izgovoriti.

And that's what makes computers powerful,

To je ono što računare čini moćnim:

these high-level languages that can be compiled.

prevodi ovih veoma složenih jezika.

And so, I'm here to tell you, you don't need a computer

Ovde sam da bih vam saopštio da vam nije potreban

to actually have a spell.

računar kako biste bacali čini. U principu, na molekularnom nivou

In fact, what you can do at the molecular level

vi možete kodirati informaciju --

is that if you encode information --

you encode a spell or program as molecules --

kodirate čin ili program kao molekul --

then physics can actually directly interpret that information

a potom, fizika može direktno da prevede tu informaciju i

and run a program.

pokrene program. To je ono što se dešava sa proteinima.

It's what happens in proteins.

When this amino-acid sequence gets pronounced as atoms,

Kada se sekvenca amino kiselina pročita u vidu atoma,

these little letters are sticky for each other.

ova mala slova se prosto lepe jedno za drugo.

It collapses into a three-dimensional shape that turns it into a nanomachine

Formiraju trodimenzionalni oblik koji se pretvori

that actually cuts DNA.

u nanomašinu koja, u principu, seče DNK.

The interesting thing is that if you change the sequence,

Zanimljivo je to da ako promenite sekvencu,

you change the three-dimensional folding.

vi promenite trodimenzionalni oblik.

You get, now, a DNA stapler, instead.

Dobijete umesto toga DNK spajalicu. Ovo su tipovi

These are the kind of molecular programs we want to be able to write.

molekularnih programa koje želimo da napišemo,

The problem is, we don't know

ali je problem u tome što ne poznajemo mašinski jezik

the machine language of proteins or have a compiler for proteins.

proteina. Nemamo prevodioca za proteine.

So I've joined a growing band of people

Upravo sam se pridružio rastućoj grupi ljudi koja pokušava da

that try to make molecular spells using DNA.

napravi molekularne čini koristeći DNK. Koristimo DNK jer je jeftinija.

We use DNA because it's cheaper, it's easier to handle,

it's something we understand really well --

Lakša je za upotrebu. To je nešto što veoma dobro razumemo.

Razumemo to toliko dobro, da u prinicipu, mislimo da smo u stanju da napišemo

so well, in fact, that we think we can actually write

programming languages for DNA and have molecular compilers.

programski jezik za DNK i imamo molekularne prevodioce.

So then, we think we can do that.

Tako da mislimo da možemo to da uradimo. Jedno od mojih prvih

One of my first questions doing this was:

pitanja je bilo kako se može napraviti

How can you make an arbitrary shape or pattern out of DNA?

proizvoljan oblik ili šablon od DNK? Odlučio sam se da koristim

I decided to use a type of DNA origami,

nešto kao DNK origami, gde prosto uzmete dug lanac DNK

where you take a long strand of DNA

and fold it into whatever shape or pattern you might want.

i savijete ga u bilo koji oblik ili šablon koji želite.

So here's a shape.

Ovo je oblik. Proveo sam otprilike oko godinu dana u svojoj kući,

I actually spent about a year in my home in my underwear, coding,

u svom donjem vešu praveći kod, kao kod Linusa Torvaldsa - na slici od malo pre.

like Linus [Torvalds], in that picture before.

This program takes a shape and spits out 250 DNA sequences.

Ovaj program formira oblik i izbaci 250 DNK sekvenci.

These short DNA sequences are what are going to fold the long strand

Te kratke DNK sekvence će saviti ovaj dugi lanac

into this shape that we want to make.

u oblik koji mi želimo da ima. Vi samo pošaljete elektronsko pismo

So you send an e-mail with these sequences in it

sa ovim sekvencama kompaniji i ono što oni urade --

to a company,

and the company pronounces them on a DNA synthesizer,

kompanija ubaci sekvence u mašinu za sintezu DNK.

a machine about the size of a photocopier.

To je mašina veličine mašine za fotokopiranje. Potom, oni uzmu

And they take your e-mail,

vaše elektronsko pismo i svako slovo u njemu

and every letter in your e-mail, they replace with a 30-atom cluster --

zamene grupom od 30 atoma -- jednom za svako slovo,

one for each letter, A, T, C and G in DNA.

A, T, C i G u DNK. Nanižu ih u traženoj sekvenci,

They string them up in the right sequence,

and then they send them back to you via FedEx.

i pošalju vam ih FedEx-om.

So you get 250 of these in the mail in little tubes.

Tako da dobijete 250 kopija toga u malim tubama poštom.

I mix them together, add a little bit of salt water,

Pomešam sve to i dodam malo slane vode,

and then add this long strand I was telling you about,

a potom ubacim ovaj dug lanac o kojem sam vam pričao,

that I've stolen from a virus.

a koji sam ukrao od virusa. A potom

And then what happens is,

you heat this whole thing up to about boiling.

podgrejete sve zajedno do tačke ključanja. Ohladite zatim

You cool it down to room temperature,

and as you do, those short strands do the following thing:

do sobne temperature i dok to činite

ovi mali lanci čine sledeće:

each one of them binds that long strand in one place,

svaki od njih se veže za jedno mesto na dugom lancu,

and then has a second half that binds that long strand in a distant place,

a drugim krajem se veže za taj isti dugi lanac

and brings those two parts of the long strand

na udaljenom mestu, tako da prosto približi dva dela dugog lanca

close together so they stick together.

i drži ih na okupu.

So the net effect of all 250 of these strands

Zajednički efekat svih tih 250 kratkih lanaca je da saviju

is to fold the long strand into the shape you're looking for.

dugi lanac u oblik koji ste vi želeli.

It'll approximate that shape.

To je otprilike taj oblik. Mi zaista ovo radimo u test-tubicama.

We do this for real, in the test tube.

In each little drop of water, you get 50 billion of these guys.

U svakoj kapljici vode se nalazi oko 50 milijardi ovih delova.

With a microscope, you can see them on a surface.

Ukoliko pogledate to pod mikroskopom uočićete ih na površini.

The neat thing is if you change the sequence and change the spell,

Finoća je u tome da ukoliko promenite sekvencu

i promenite čin, vi samo promenite sekvencu spajalice.

just change the sequence of the staples,

you can make a molecule that looks like this.

Možete napraviti molekul koji izgleda ovako i znate

And, you know, he likes to hang out with his buddies.

prosto voli da se druži sa drugarima, zar ne?

A lot of them are actually pretty good.

Mnogi su veoma dobri.

If you change the spell again, you change the sequence again,

Ukoliko promenite čin, vi ponovo promenite sekvencu.

you get really nice, 130-nanometer triangles.

Dobijete veoma lepe trouglove od 130 nanometara. Ukoliko

If you do it again,

you can get arbitrary patterns.

ponovite to, možete dobiti proizvoljne šablone. Tako da na kvadratu

So on a rectangle, you can paint patterns of North and South America,

možete naslikati konture Severne i Južne Amerike ili reči "DNK".

or the words, "DNA."

So that's DNA origami. That's one way.

To je DNK origami. To je jedan način. Postoji mnogo načina da

There are many ways of casting molecular spells using DNA.

bacite molekularne čini koristeći DNK.

What we really want to do in the end

Naš krajnji cilj je da naučimo kako da napravimo programe

is learn how to program self-assembly so we can build anything, right?

koji mogu da naprave bilo šta, u redu?

We want to be able to build technological artifacts

Želimo da napravimo tehnološke izume koji bi

that are maybe good for the world.

možda bili dobri za svet. Hoćemo da naučimo kako da

We want to learn how to build biological artifacts,

napravimo biološke artefakte, kao što su ljudi ili kitovi ili drveće.

like people and whales and trees.

And if it's the case that we can reach that level of complexity,

Ukoliko postoji mogućnost da mi dosegnemo taj nivo kompleksnosti,

if our ability to program molecules gets to be that good,

ukoliko naša sposobnost da programiramo molekule postane toliko dobra,

then that will truly be magic.

to će zaista biti prava magija. Hvala vam mnogo.

Thank you very much.

(Aplauz)

(Applause)