Abstract
This paper proposes DNA-PKC, an asymmetric encryption and signature cryptosystem by combining the technologies of genetic engineering and cryptology. It is an exploratory research of biological cryptology. Similar to conventional public-key cryptology, DNA-PKC uses two pairs of keys for encryption and signature, respectively. Using the public encryption key, everyone can send encrypted message to a specified user, only the owner of the private decryption key can decrypt the ciphertext and recover the message; in the signature scheme, the owner of the private signing key can generate a signature that can be verified by other users with the public verification key, but no else can forge the signature. DNA-PKC differs from the conventional cryptology in that the keys and the ciphertexts are all biological molecules. The security of DNA-PKC relies on difficult biological problems instead of computational problems; thus DNA-PKC is immune from known attacks, especially the quantum computing based attacks.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Wiesner S. Conjugate coding. SIGACT News, 1983, 15: 78–88
Chou C W, Laurat J L, Deng H, et al. Functional quantum nodes for entanglement distribution over scalable quantum networks. Science, 2007, 316: 1316–1320
Bennett C H, Brassard G. Quantum cryptography: public-key distribution and coin tossing. In: Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Computers, Systems and Signal Processing. Bangalore, India: Bangalore Press, 1984. 175–179
Bennett C H. Quantum cryptography using any two nonorthogonal states. Phys Rev Lett, 1992, 68: 3121–3124
Ekert A K. Quantum cryptography based on Bell’s theorem. Phys Rev Lett, 1991, 67: 661–663
Hemmer P, Wrachtrup J. Where is my quantum computer? Science, 2009, 324: 473–474
Shor P W. Algorithms for quantum computation: discrete log and factoring. In: Goldwasser S, ed. Proceedings of the 35th Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science. Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society Press, 1994. 124–134
Adleman L. Molecular computation of solutions to combinatorial problems. Science, 1994, 266: 1021–1023
Ehud S, Binyamin G. RNA computing in a living cell. Science, 2008, 322: 387–388
Guarnieri F, Fliss M, Bancroft C. Making DNA add. Science, 1996, 273: 220–223
Sakamoto K, Gouzu H, Komiya K, et al. Molecular computation by DNA hairpin formation. Science, 2000, 288: 1223–1226
Fastest DNA computer. Science, 2005, 308: 195
Liu Q, Wang L, Frutos A G, et al. DNA computing on surfaces. Nature, 2000, 403: 175–179
Roweis S, Winfree1 E, Burgoyne R, et al. A sticker based model for DNA computation. J Comput Biol, 1998, 5: 615–629
Gifford D K. On the path to computation with DNA. Science, 1994, 266: 993–994
Ouyang Q, Kaplan P D, Liu S, et al. DNA solution of the maximal clique problem. Science, 1997, 278: 446–449
Lipton R J. Using DNA to solve NP-complete problems. Science, 1995, 268: 542–545
Ravinderjit S, Braich R, Chelyapov N, et al. Solution of a 20-variable 3-SAT problem on a DNA computer. Science, 2002, 296: 499–502
Adleman L M, Rothemund P W K, Roweiss S, et al. On applying molecular computation to the data encryption standard. J Comput Biol, 1999, 6: 53–63
Boneh D, Dunworth C, Lipton R J. Breaking DES using a molecular computer. In: DNA Based Computers I. Providence, USA: American Mathematical Society, 1996. 37–65
Gehani A, LaBean T H, Reif J H. DNA-based cryptography. In: DNA Based Computers V. Providence, USA: American Mathematical Society, 2000. 233–249
Clelland C T, Risca V, Bancroft C. Hiding messages in DNA microdots. Nature, 1999, 399: 533–534
Leier A, Richter C, Banzhaf W, et al. Cryptography with DNA binary strands. Biosystems, 2000, 57: 13–22
Xiao G Z, Lu M X, Qin L, et al. New field of cryptograhy: DNA cryptography. Chinese Sci Bull, 2006, 51: 1413–1420
Lu M X, Lai X J, Xiao G Z, et al. A symmetric-key cryptosystem with DNA technology. Sci China Ser F-Inf Sci, 2007, 50: 324–333
Watson J D, Hopkins N H, Roberts J W, et al. Molecular Biology of the Gene. 4th ed. Menlo Park, CA: The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Co., Inc. 1987
Seeman N C. Nanotechnology and the double helix. Sci Am, 2004, 290: 34–43
Fodor S P, Read J L, Pirrung M C, et al. Light-directed, spatially addressable parallel chemical synthesis. Science, 1991, 251: 767–773
Pease A C, Solas D, Sullivan E J, et al. Light-generated oligonucleotide arrays for rapid DNA sequence analysis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 1994, 91: 5022–5026
Schena M, Shalon D, Ronald W, et al. Quantitative monitoring of gene expression patterns with a complementary DNA microarray. Science, 1995, 270: 467–470
Shalon D, Smith S J, Brown P O. A DNA microarray system for analyzing complex DNA samples using two-color fluorescent probe hybridization. Genome Res, 1996, 6: 639–645
Weiler J, Gausepohll H, Hauser N, et al. Hybridisation based DNA screening on peptide nucleic acid (PNA) oligomer arrays. Nucleic Acids Research, 1997, 25: 2792–2799
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lai, X., Lu, M., Qin, L. et al. Asymmetric encryption and signature method with DNA technology. Sci. China Inf. Sci. 53, 506–514 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-010-0063-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-010-0063-3