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Beyond the Blueprint: How We're Rewriting the Human Genome for National DNA Day
Beyond the Blueprint: How We're Rewriting the Human Genome for National DNA Day
National DNA Day is celebrated on April 25th each year to celebrate the completion of the human genome project in 2003, which signified the complete mapping of the human genome. Today, the goal of National DNA Day is to give the public an opportunity to learn about and celebrate the latest advances in genomic research and explore how those advances impact their lives.
In order to celebrate National DNA Day this past week, I decided to touch on a new company’s efforts to store electronic data in DNA. This innovation far surpasses identifying the base pairs of the human genome and utilizes the completed sequence to create cohesive messages in the English language.
What do you mean store messages in DNA?
DNA codes for protein in biology in what we call ‘The Central Dogma’. The central dogma says that DNA codes for → RNA which codes for → protein. In this artificial messaging, data codes for → DNA which de-codes back to → data which signifies → letters of the English alphabet.
To begin, a software algorithm converts the ones and zeros of digital data into As, Ts, Cs and Gs, short for adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine, the base pairs that make up the building blocks of DNA. Once the data is ready to be de-coded into English words, the process seems to be a bit like the sequencing by synthesis method used in next generation sequencing. First, chemicals are added to the DNA sample that flow across the fragments of DNA, sticking to complementary segments of DNA as they pass. The sticky pieces on the DNA sequences are then read before being converted back into binary code that signifies letters of the alphabet. The process in next generation sequencing is similar, except that the chemicals that flow across the DNA sample hybridize complementary base pairs, and those complementary base pairs have corresponding fluorescent tags that allow the final sequence to be read.
How would it work in theory?
The ability to store electronic data in something as compact as DNA is appealing because of the struggle to store electronic data in physical spaces in a cost-effective and resource-efficient way. Today’s data centers are often warehouses filled with rows of server racks. Per the French company Biomemory, every email sent, movie streamed, TikTok shared, or bitcoin traded puts those servers to work, accounting for around 1.5 percent of the world’s electricity consumption. In theory, DNA storage devices would be used in place of these hard drives in data centers.
How’s it going?
Well! Back in 2019, Microsoft launched the first proof-of-concept automated system to store and retrieve data. The team successfully encoded the word “hello” in snippets of fabricated DNA and converted it back to digital data using a fully automated end-to-end system.
Fast forward to today, and Biomemory has found a way to dry and store the synthetic DNA created from binary code in a silver credit-card-like device. The wallet-sized DNA storage cards store one kilobyte of text data, or approximately the amount of data in a short email, and costs $500 per card.
What’s the takeaway?
In the well-connected world in which we live, data storage is a hot commodity. It makes sense to utilize DNA, nature’s original storage system, for storage of codes we can manage on our own. Using Biomemory’s technology, users can type the text message they want to store into an interface that looks something like Google Translate, which converts it into DNA code. Given the ease of this technology, data storage may be more compact and accessible thanks to the influence of genomic research and technology.
Newsletter Sources:
https://www.genome.gov/dna-day
https://www.wired.com/story/store-a-message-in-dna/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Scan%20Tues%202023-12-05&utm_term=The%20Scan%20Bulletin
https://news.microsoft.com/source/features/innovation/hello-data-dna-storage/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-41228-8
https://www.iea.org/energy-system/buildings/data-centres-and-data-transmission-networks