DNA For Information Processing and Data Storage

Haydn Fenton writes "Here is an article on using DNA for data storage and even information processing. From the article, "The DNA molecule - nature's premier data storage material - may hold the key for the information technology industry as it faces demands for more compact data processing and storage circuitry. A team led by Richard Kiehl, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Minnesota, has used DNA's ability to assemble itself into predetermined patterns to construct a synthetic DNA scaffolding with regular, closely spaced docking sites that can direct the assembly of circuits for processing or storing data.""

Comments

It works on so many levels

[antimatt]

And another thing: chemically, DNA is almost heroically unchanging. It is among the most unreactive, inert molecules in the biological world. That means data integrity, a Good Thing.

Re:The things people doubt

[Anonymous Coward]

This has (essentially) nothing to do with older ideas of storing data in DNA sequences. The DNA is being used here as a scaffold to lay down a particularly dense array of unformatted storage material.

DNA heroically unchanging

[handy_vandal]

... chemically, DNA is almost heroically unchanging. It is among the most unreactive, inert molecules in the biological world. That means data integrity, a Good Thing.

Good point.

When DNA does go bad, typically what happens is that the telomeres wear out, leading to cell death.

-kgj

Re:DNA heroically unchanging

[InternationalCow]

Good point indeed but you misunderstood. DNA inside the cell IS changing all of the time although changes to its chemistry are being repaired all the time. Telomere change is something else, that happens at cell division. Higher-order structure, like folding, also changes. What the parent meant is that DNA, when taken out of the cell, is very very stable with most of its primary and secondary structure remaining intact over a long long time (see extraction from Neanderthal bones). However, the point of using DNA as a scaffold for the assembly of information is not in its stability per se. It's in its ability, per its repetitive structure with lots of nice modifiable side chains available, to direct assembly of other molecules. This is what is meant, methinks.

Performance Limits on Chemical Computation

[tjic]

For those interested in such things, a friend wrote his PhD thesis on defining the limits of achievable DNA computation:

Performance Limits on Chemical Computation.

Re:Convert me now!

[Byzandula]

And you sir, are an Anonymous Coward!