DNA as Cryptography: Private Keys, Public Keys, and Biological Signatures
DNA functions like a private key: the active strand remains hidden while deterministically producing a specific protein, which acts like a public key—stable, comparable, and extremely difficult to reverse back into its exact genetic source. When a cell responds to a stimulus by expressing a specific protein, that protein behaves like a biological signature, and its precise binding and functional correctness serve as verification that it originated from the intact underlying DNA.
