DNA data storage
DNA data storage encodes computer files as sequences of synthetic DNA. It can last for millennia, and a short movie has already been stored in the genomes of living bacteria.
Humanity produces data faster than it can build places to keep it. DNA offers a way out: it holds information for millennia, stores it orders of magnitude more densely than current technology, and needs little energy to sit on a shelf. One coding scheme fits 215 petabytes into a single gram, a hundredfold gain on earlier pioneering methods. Writing the molecule is still costly. And the store need not be a test tube: a short movie has already been written into the genomes of living bacteria.
Sources
- Molecular Digital Data Storage using DNA (Nature Reviews Genetics)
- An Economic Analysis of DNA-based Data Storage Systems (arXiv)
- Researchers store computer operating system and short movie on DNA (phys.org)
- CRISPR-Cas encoding of a digital movie into the genomes of a population of living bacteria (Nature)
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