Scientists store data inside DNA that could last MILLIONS of years
Scientists store data inside DNA that could last MILLIONS
of years
Potential for DNA to be used for data storage has been
discussed for years
But retrieving the data encoded in the genes has
previously proved tricky
Inspired by fossils, researchers from Zurich encased DNA
in a 'fossil shell'
They subjected these shells - or silica spheres - to extreme temperatures
This was carried out to mimic chemical degradation seen
naturally on DNA
Despite the conditions, the DNA was extracted and decoded
from the silica
And if preserved in freezing temperatures, the
researchers said the data has the potential to last for 'millions of years'
inside DNA
By Victoria Woollaston for MailOnline
Published: 10:35 EST, 16 February 2015 | Updated: 14:57 EST, 16 February 2015
Just one gram of DNA can store the equivalent of 14,000
Blu-ray discs.
But although the potential for DNA as an alternative to
hard drives has been known about for years, it is not the most reliable and
secure way to keep data safe.
The latest breakthrough could be about to change that,
however.
Chemists subjected spheres of DNA to extreme temperatures
designed to mimic chemical degradation and found the material - and the data
stored on it - could be successfully decoded.
The research was led by Robert Grass from ETH Zurich's
Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences.
'DNA lends itself to this task as it can store large
amounts of information in a compact manner,' said the researchers.
'Unfortunately, the data is not always retrievable
error-free: gaps and false information in the encoded data arise through
chemical degradation and mistakes in DNA sequencing.
'[We] have revealed how the long-term, error-free storage
of information can be achieved, potentially for more than a million years.'
In 2013, researchers demonstrated that data could be
saved and read from DNA, but during tests the time between 'writing' the
information and reading, or sequencing it, was relatively short.
Even during this short time, mistakes were spotted in the
writing and reading of the data stored on the DNA.
Over a longer term, DNA can change significantly as it
reacts chemically with the environment, and this is the biggest obstacle to
using DNA as a long-term storage option.
With this in mind, Professor Grass took inspiration from
fossilised bones.
Despite being thousands of years old, it is possible to
obtain genetic material found within the bones.
He concluded that this DNA is protected because it is
'encapsulated and protected'.
With this in mind he devised a way to protect the
information-bearing DNA with a synthetic 'fossil shell', in the same way.
His team began by encoding Switzerland's Federal Charter
of 1291 and The Methods of Mechanical Theorems by Archimedes in the DNA.
The researchers then placed the DNA segments into spheres
of silica with a diameter of roughly 150 nanometres.
In order to simulate the degradation of DNA over a long
period of time, researchers stored it at a temperature of between 60°C (140°F)
and 70°C (158°F) for up to a month.
These high temperatures replicate the chemical
degradation that takes place over hundreds of years within just a few weeks.
By doing this, the researchers could compare the storage
of DNA in silica glass with other common storage methods such as on impregnated
filter paper and in a biopolymer.
The DNA encapsulated in the glass shell turned out to be
particularly robust and the researchers were able separate it from the shell,
using a fluoride solution, and read information from it.
STORING DATA INSIDE DNA
In 2013, researchers from the European Bioinformatics
Institute at the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus in Hinxton, Cambridgeshire
'downloaded' all 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets on to strands of synthetic DNA.
Scientists were then able to decode the information and
reproduce the words of the Bard with complete accuracy.
The same technique made it possible to store a 26-second
excerpt from Martin Luther King's 'I Have A Dream' speech and a photo of the
Cambridgeshire laboratory where the work took place.
For their experiment, the scientists used a tiny amount
of synthetic, dry DNA.
Five genetic 'letters' from the genetic code - A,C,G and
T - were used to represent the zeros and ones that make up 'bytes' of digital
information.
For instance, the upper case T in the word 'Thou' from
the second line of Shakespeare's Sonnet XVIII - 'Thou art more lovely and more
temperate' - was encoded by the sequence TATAT.
The scientists then incorporated an 'error correction',
similar to that found laptops and mobile phones.
This involved overlapping short strands of DNA and
independently writing every million-molecule fragment of code four times.
Effectively, three back ups were created for each
fragment, greatly reducing the chances of mistakes.
This was a similar method used by Reinhard Heckel from
ETH Zurich's Communication Technology Laboratory for the recent study.
And, because the silica spheres are comparable to the way
DNA is protected in fossilised bones, the researchers concluded that if stored
at certain temperatures, the data could survive for millions of years.
The team used the example of extremely low temperatures,
such as -18° C.
By comparison, data on microfilm can be preserved only
for an estimated 500 years.
As the researchers pointed out, this is not the first
time DNA has been used to store information and digital data.
In 2013, researchers from the European Bioinformatics
Institute (EBI) at the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus in Hinxton, Cambridgeshire
'downloaded' all 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets on to strands of synthetic DNA.
Scientists were then able to decode the information and
reproduce the words of the Bard with complete accuracy.
Dr Nick Goldman, from the EBI said: 'We already know that
DNA is a robust way to store information because we can extract it from bones
of woolly mammoths, which date back tens of thousands of years, and make sense
of it.
The scientists then incorporated an 'error correction',
similar to that found laptops and mobile phones.
This involved overlapping short strands of DNA and
independently writing every million-molecule fragment of code four times.
Effectively, three back ups were created for each
fragment, greatly reducing the chances of mistakes.
This was a similar method used by Reinhard Heckel from
ETH Zurich's Communication Technology Laboratory for the recent study.
The researchers from EBI stressed that the DNA used was
wholly artificial and different to the genetic molecules of life, and if it was
added to a human body, it would degrade and be disposed of.
Currently the technology is restricted by the length of
time it takes to sequence DNA and its high cost - around £8,000 ($12,300) per
megabyte of stored material.
Even so, DNA-based storage could today be cost effective
for archives of several megabytes over long time periods of 600 to 5,000 years,
computer models predict.
A DNA archive also requires no constant supply of
electric power like hard discs do.
Comments
Post a Comment