Natural Computing is concerned with computation that is going on in
Nature. The investigation of computations in living cells is one of the
central and fastest growing areas of research in this field. Gene
assembly in ciliates (unicellular organisms) is a splendid example of
such computations, and it is fascinating from both the biological and
the computational viewpoints. As a matter of fact, both biology and the
science of computation have benefited from the interdisciplinary
research on the computational nature of gene assembly - this work has
helped to clarify important biological aspects of gene assembly, yielded
novel insights into the nature of computation, and broadened our
understanding of what computation is about.
This monograph gives an accessible account of both the biology and the
formal analysis of the gene assembly process. It can be used as a
textbook for either graduate courses or seminars.