International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)

Volume 177 – No. 12, October 2019

Quantum Computing-Applications in Bioinformatics

Divya Baiskhiyar Ravi Kumar
Freelancer Researcher Enterprise Architect, Fisev

ABSTRACT silicon-based integrated circuits. However, an increase in the

Quantum computing is a promising field that emerged out of a computing power in such a way is not infinite and shown to
combination of quantum physics and computer science. With follow a growth trend as explained by Moore’s law.
ever expanding data across different areas, the conventional According to which the number of transistors is doubling in
computer will run out of its capacity to handle such big data. every 18 months with a corresponding decrease in transistors’
Further, extracting the meaningful from big complex data still, size on the chip [1] since 1965. It attributes to significant
accompany challenges with it. Quantum computing main goal limitations to using silicon-based technology which is as
is to provide such algorithms which are robust and faster in follows:
solving problems as compared to classical computers. In this
paper, the limitations of a classical computer, basic features of
2.1 Design complexity, density and speed
quantum computing and its applications in the bioinformatics limits
have been explored. All classical computing crams for achieving more and more
speed via reducing the size of transistors and chips to
General Terms minimizes the distance between the chips. As in turn it will
Design, Complexity lead to decrease in the time of transfer of instructions from
one component to another during execution. The process
Keywords demands to fit a higher number of transistors on a chip
Quantum computing, Classical computing, Bioinformatics making it denser than before. Further, shrinking in chip size
demands for more complex design to be made. But it has been
1. INTRODUCTION predicted that in the near future the increase in transistors
Computing is an indispensable part of all spheres of life and densities on shrinking size of chip will come to an end [2].
ranges from simple calculations to very complex problem
issues. The continuous advancement in classical computing 2.2 Energy consumption and heat
has been attributed to the powerful miniaturization of dissipation limit
integrated circuits. However, the extent of such The proper functioning of transistors depends upon their size
miniaturization and enhancing of chip capacity suffers from for switching between on and Off state. The switching speed
certain limitations. It has led to the search for alternatives and depends upon their size due to the requirement of less power
progress towards new type or next-generation computing such and resultant heat generation. The heat is generated while
as quantum computing and molecular computing. switching between these states. It means more switching will
Quantum computing is an interdisciplinary research area that results in more heat at a specific time. Transistor’s component
utilizes the principles of quantum mechanics. Quantum (gate oxide) ability beyond a specific size (less than
computer possesses unique abilities such as entanglement, nanometer) to control the flow of electrons in the off state will
superposition that enable to surpass some of the limitations of be disturbed and results in the process of quantum tunneling
today’s classical computer. For instance, their ability to [3]. Further, reduction in transistor’s size in the range of
perform extremely faster computations by reducing the nanometres and increased number of transistors will render
number of calculations needed to complete a task. Further, it the chip of no use in case any fabrication error occurs even at
can help in solving problems that are currently unsolvable in atom level. Additionally, a large amount of power dissipation
varied disciplines such as bioinformatics, artificial will happen in the form of heat.
intelligence, drug discovery, personalized medicine, Thus, silicon-based classical computing is attaining its upper
biological system, and many others. The second section in this physical limits in terms of design complexity, speed, memory,
article describes a brief introduction of classical computing’s energy consumption, density, and heat dissipation. Quantum
limitations. The third section describes the basics properties of computing is suggested as one of the alternatives to classical
Quantum computing. Fourth section deals with potential computing as it does not involve the use of transistors.
applications of Quantum computing in the bioinformatics
field. Finally, the last one includes concluding part of the 3. QUANTUM COMPUTING AND ITS
paper.
BASIC FEATURES
2. CLASSICAL COMPUTING AND ITS Well-known high technology using companies like IBM,
Microsoft, Google is investing in research and development
LIMITATIONS towards quantum computing. Recently, IBM Q System
Classical computing involves operations on Boolean bits, i.e., OneTM has been developed by IBM which is the first
0s and 1s. The current that flows through the conducting wires commercial Quantum computer [4]. Following are some of
determine a particular state. For instance, when current is the basic features possessed by quantum computing that make
passing through then, it is said to be in logical 1(on) state or it lucrative:
otherwise in logical 0 (off) state, these two forms a bit. Given
a given ordered sequence of the bit as input results in an
ordered sequence of bits as output. There has been significant
growth in the power of classical computing that utilizes

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 International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)
Volume 177 – No. 12, October 2019

3.1 Qubits of these processes at least to some level that currently cannot
In contrast to bit can have only one possible electronic state be achieved. Although, the applications of Quantum
out of two (|0⟩ and |1⟩ ) at a time in classical computing’s, computing in bioinformatics is still in its nascent stage while
quantum computing leverages the advantage of subatomic some of the studies have been demonstrated its potential uses
particles where each state is represented by ‘quantum bit’ or in solving a biological problem. For instance, quantum D-
‘qubit’ that can attain 1,0 or any values in between them at a Wave Two X processor has been shown to map correctly
time. Such a system is called as complex two-state system selected transcriptors to correct binding sites on DNA [14].
where a state space has infinitely many possible states. Further, the use of D-Wave OneTM quantum computer has
Examples of the system include electron spin -1/2 or photon been used to determine the ground-state conformation of six-
polarization or atom’s ground state along with its excited state amino acid lattice protein models [15]. Another instance is
[5]. where a system has been proposed that uses Shor Algorithm
of Quantum computing with distinct Hierarchical Clustering
3.2 Superposition Technique to obtain an approach for Cancer Disease
In quantum computing, pure qubit (|Ψ⟩ ) can attain any Detection [16].
superposition or linear combination of two basic states
represented by Dirac notation |0⟩ and |1⟩ , a|0⟩ + b|1⟩ ), 5. CONCLUSION
where a and b denote complex numbers given |a| 2 + |b| 2 = 1. Quantum computing equipped with features such as
Further, two bits in classical computing can be indicated as superposition, entanglement, parallelism possesses the
00, 01, 10 and 11. In contrast, a qubit can be represented by potential capability to tackle many problems that are classical
any of those numbers at the same time. As a result, greater computing unable to solve. Although quantum computing is
number of qubits will lead to an exponential increase in the yet in a nascent phase, it paves the way towards a new era of
number of superposition that facilitates faster calculations power computing which will enable to solve complicated
involving very complicated numbers. problems including genome assembly, discovering protein-
DNA binding interaction, disease detection and many more.
3.3 Quantum parallelism
The superposition feature imparts an ability to run a 6. REFERENCES
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Volume 177 – No. 12, October 2019

[13] Zaslavsky, E., & Singh, M. 2006. A combinatorial [15] Perdomo-Ortiz, A., Dickson, N., Drew-Brook, M., Rose,
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41534-018-0060-8

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