On DNA Codes using the Ring Z4 + wZ4

In this work, we study the DNA codes from the ring R = Z4 + wZ4, where w^2 = 2+2w with 16 elements. We establish a one to one correspondence between the elements of the ring R and all the DNA codewords of length 2 by defining a distance-preserving Gau map phi. Using this map, we give several new classes of the DNA codes which satisfies reverse and reverse complement constraints. Some of the constructed DNA codes are optimal.