We all know that DNA is the carrier of genetic information. But can this structure to store information not only about our genome, but also any other? Numerous studies and experiments showed that it is indeed possible. And recently a group of scientists from Harvard medical school in Boston managed to record the DNA of living cells short animated film and then play it.
It is worth saying that this is the first known case where a video recorded in living cells, able to reproduce. Recorded film has been restored from the DNA of the bacteria by sequencing the genome with 90% accuracy. The success of this experiment suggests that cells can store a variety of information. They can “burn” certain events, for example, gene expression. This information in the future you can “download” and learn.
For recording and later retrieval of information from DNA, the researchers used already-established editor of the genome of CRISPR-Cas9. For a start, they have built in the DNA of bacteria the horse, and then the full version of one of the first animated cartoons in 1887, depicting a running horse with rider. The DNA was placed 5 frames. On the “installation” was required every single day. After sekvenirovaniya genome bacteria, the recovered cartoon on 90% coincides with the original. As explained by one of the authors, neuroscientist Seth Shipman,
“Our technology can be used for disease modeling and treatment. Moreover, it would be great to make cells of historians. Imagine a biological system memory that can be expressed in a few cells. It is, for example, will be able to track various changes in the human body, fix them and not to cause inconvenience. Another application of this technology — the recording of neurons of the molecular history of the brain at the stage of development.”
Scientists first recorded in the DNA cartoon
Vladimir Kuznetsov