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The ability of neural networks to process information intelligently has allowed them to be successfully applied in the fields of information processing, controls, engineering, medicine, and economics. The brain-like working mode of a neural network gives it incomparable advantages in solving complex nonlinear problems compared with other methods. In this paper, we propose a feedforward DNA neural network framework based on an enzyme-free, entropy-driven DNA reaction network that uses a modular design. A multiplication gate, an addition gate, a subtraction gate, and a threshold gate module based on the DNA strand displacement principle are cascaded into a single DNA neuron, and the neuron cascade is used to form a feedforward transfer neural network. We use this feedforward neural network to realize XOR logic operation and full adder logic operation, which proves that the molecular neural network system based on DNA strand displacement can carry out complex nonlinear operation and reflects the powerful potential of building these molecular neural networks.

This paper presents a collection of computational modules implemented with chemical reactions: an inverter, an incrementer, a decrementer, a copier, a comparator, and a multiplier. Unlike previous schemes for chemical computation, ours produces designs that are dependent only on coarse rate categories for the reactions ("fast" vs. "slow"). Given such categories, the computation is exact and independent of the specific reaction rates. We validate our designs through stochastic simulations of the chemical kinetics. Although conceptual for the time being, our methodology has potential applications in domains of synthetic biology such as biochemical sensing and drug delivery. We are exploring DNA-based computation via strand displacement as a possible experimental chassis.