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Researchers Store Computer OS, Short Movie On DNA (phys.org)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phys.Org: In a new study published in the journal Science, a pair of researchers at Columbia University and the New York Genome Center (NYGC) show that an algorithm designed for streaming video on a cellphone can unlock DNA's nearly full storage potential by squeezing more information into its four base nucleotides. They demonstrate that this technology is also extremely reliable. Erlich and his colleague Dina Zielinski, an associate scientist at NYGC, chose six files to encode, or write, into DNA: a full computer operating system, an 1895 French film, "Arrival of a train at La Ciotat," a $50 Amazon gift card, a computer virus, a Pioneer plaque and a 1948 study by information theorist Claude Shannon. They compressed the files into a master file, and then split the data into short strings of binary code made up of ones and zeros. Using an erasure-correcting algorithm called fountain codes, they randomly packaged the strings into so-called droplets, and mapped the ones and zeros in each droplet to the four nucleotide bases in DNA: A, G, C and T. The algorithm deleted letter combinations known to create errors, and added a barcode to each droplet to help reassemble the files later. In all, they generated a digital list of 72,000 DNA strands, each 200 bases long, and sent it in a text file to a San Francisco DNA-synthesis startup, Twist Bioscience, that specializes in turning digital data into biological data. Two weeks later, they received a vial holding a speck of DNA molecules. To retrieve their files, they used modern sequencing technology to read the DNA strands, followed by software to translate the genetic code back into binary. They recovered their files with zero errors, the study reports. The study also notes that "a virtually unlimited number of copies of the files could be created with their coding technique by multiplying their DNA sample through polymerase chain reaction (PCR)." The researchers also "show that their coding strategy packs 215 petabytes of data on a single gram of DNA."
It's stores in individual units that are base 4. (AGCT instead of 01) Oh, living organisms read 3 units at a time called a codon which is 4^3 or 64 combinations.
Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
a story here makes me go WOW!
If this is legit it would be one. Time will tell though.
Actually that did hit me as being jaw-dropping amazing. Yes the technique is slow write and slow read but the information density is about as good as it is possible to get at a molecular level. Even better the stuff is self replicating so backups of your backup are trivial. I am scratching my head as to how this might be used in a practical way at the moment, a bit like a laser in 1970 but the concept itself is staggering. I had no idea that the genetic science had moved so quickly, it seems like only yesterday we sequenced the human genome for the first time. I know one thing, if I was 50 years younger it would be this field rather than semiconductor physics that would be the most interesting physics to get into. Also I have absolutely no doubt that in 50 years time some pretty amazing medicine will be available. Much like 50 years ago a computer was a room full of racks and today it is an Apple iPhone. Today we just cured one child of sickle cell anemia using gene therapy, where is that going to go in the next 50 years? Wow, just wow. (Always assuming we can get pass the current trend towards 0.001% of the population having all the wealth and the rest of us living in a ghetto of course).
Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
The $50 amazon gift card was a genius idea. With PCR they will become infinitely rich off of those alone!
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