Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39317847›Full record

ArticleNature chemical biology2025

Partitioning of a 2-bit hash function across 66 communicating cells.

Jai P Padmakumar, Jessica J Sun, William Cho, Yangruirui Zhou, Christopher Krenz, Woo Zhong Han, Douglas Densmore, Eduardo D Sontag, Christopher A Voigt

Abstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Nature chemical biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
14citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

14 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Review
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. Review
  11. Why cellular computations challenge our design principles.Seminars in cell & developmental biology · 2025
    Review
  12. Article
  13. Hashing the message with cells.Nature chemical biology · 2025
    Article
  14. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Jai P Padmakumar *MIT Microbiology Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Jessica J Sun *Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-3552-7094
William ChoDepartment of Bioengineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
Yangruirui ZhouDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID 0009-0005-6113-2589
Christopher KrenzDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-0514-4586
Woo Zhong HanDepartment of Computer Science, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
Douglas DensmoreDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-7666-6808
Eduardo D SontagDepartment of Bioengineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
Christopher A VoigtMIT Microbiology Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. cavoigt@gmail.com.ORCID 0000-0003-0844-4776

Funding

United States Department of Defense | Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) FA8750-17-C-0229
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Powerful distributed computing can be achieved by communicating cells that individually perform simple operations. Here, we report design software to divide a large genetic circuit across cells as well as the genetic parts to implement the subcircuits in their genomes. These tools were demonstrated using a 2-bit version of the MD5 hashing algorithm, which is an early predecessor to the cryptographic functions underlying cryptocurrency. One iteration requires 110 logic gates, which were partitioned across 66 Escherichia coli strains, requiring the introduction of a total of 1.1 Mb of recombinant DNA into their genomes. The strains were individually experimentally verified to integrate their assigned input signals, process this information correctly and propagate the result to the cell in the next layer. This work demonstrates the potential to obtain programable control of multicellular biological processes.

Indexed as

Escherichia coliSoftwareAlgorithmsGenome, Bacterial

Identifiers

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.