With a zap of electricity, scientists write a message into bacterial DNA for the first time
DNA is compact and information-dense, making it the perfect material for data storage
Stephanie Batalis
Biochemistry
Wake Forest School of Medicine
May 6, 2021
Harris Wang and his team at Columbia University have harnessed the power of living bacteria to write binary code in the bacteria’s own DNA. This approach is the latest in a quest to use DNA to store digital data. Their study is the first, however, to make and store that DNA directly in living bacteria.
These efforts are a response to some experts’ concerns that the needs of a digital world are outpacing the supply of computer chips needed for traditional hard drives. By turning instead to bacteria, this new research reimagines DNA for a digital purpose.
DNA is an enticing storage molecule because it fits a wealth of information into a microscopic package. All of the complicated instructions that make you unique fit into a cell nucleus that’s approximately one-tenth the width of a single human hair. If you unwound and stretched out the DNA in a single cell, it would measure six feet long. That adds up to nearly 67 billion miles of DNA in your body alone. DNA can store petabytes of data per gram, making it one of the most information-dense materials on earth.
One significant hurdle has stood in the way of past attempts to use DNA as a storage molecule for digital data. Long messages require long strands of custom DNA, which are expensive to make with typical DNA synthesizer machines. Wang’s team overcame this hurdle by turning to a much cheaper DNA-making machine: live bacteria.
More:
https://massivesci.com/articles/dna-storage-living-bacteria/
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1st glance is a hmmmm...wut?
