All your genes are belong to us
Most computers are designed around silicon circuits powered by electricity, but there is more than one way to skin a cat, as they say. You can build a quantum computer , for example, based on things being in two places at once. Or, if you find yourself in a world without electricity, you can build a computer out of gears, and rotors. Photonic (optical) computers are also cool. (And chemical computers deserve a shout-out.)
Bacteria can also be employed for computing purposes, as some scientists have recently explored. Using a modified bacteria with a "Hin/hixC recombination system previously adapted from Salmonella typhimurium for use in Escherichia coli" a 19 person research team were able to make a working circuit-analogue that is based around DNA.
The engineered bacteria were tasked with figuring out a "Hamiltonian Path Problem" -- a difficult test to find a path through a three dimensional nodular space visiting each node at least once.
The test was a success.
The bacteria being bacteria naturally reproduced itself. The bacteria that was able to find the correct path the Hamiltonian puzzle had the genetic code to turn yellow, while the bacteria that wandered off maintained either red or blue colorings.
Programming bacterial computers is not an easy task - generally, much different tasks require a measure of genetic engineering. But perhaps in some circumstances, where a reoccurring problem needs solving, bacteria-powered computers might come in handy. And besides, how many computers can reproduce themselves?
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I'd prefer quantum computers for future anyhow!!!!!!!!!!
Most importantly, what if that kinds of computers have HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) or AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)?
Are you willing to use if they (computers) have that kinds of stuffs?
Is that really a good thing though?
Although they are technically a 'computer', keep in a mind a bacteria based computer is not a general purpose machine. It has to be engineered to perform one task.
Multiple tasks are possible with a bac-comp but this is only in its infancy stage. Bacteria based computers are highly unlikely to ever be usable in any way similar to any computer you have ever used.
The future promise lies probably more with using a bacteria based computer for specific , unusual circumstances, where they are performing repeated tasks, and can subsume energy from a bio-based container. For example, perhaps long down the road, a bacteria based computer may be in used in a solution to help deliver nanobots to specific areas in the human body.
As cool as bacteria computers are, they seem like one of those technologies (to me anyways) that will come in handy in an unexpected way in the future. More of an engineering problem than a science problem. DNA-based computational devices are much more likely to become feasibly useful in multiple manners.