On applying molecular computation to binary linear codes

Adleman's (1994) successful solution of a seven-vertex instance of the NP-complete Hamiltonian directed path problem by a DNA algorithm initiated the field of biomolecular computing. In this correspondence, we describe DNA algorithms based on the sticker model to perform encoding, minimum-distance computation, and maximum-likelihood (ML) decoding of binary linear codes. We also discuss feasibility and limitations of the sticker algorithms.