The future of technology lies not only in the constant growth of computing power of processors or the transition to quantum computers, but also in the evolution of storage devices. Humanity generates a huge amount of information, stored accounting for the traditional ways — on the HDD – and SSD-drives. Periodically scientists propose alternative methods of information storage, among which are very unusual. For example, using DNA as data storage. Recently researchers Institute of Technology Waterford has been proposed another method of implementing this technology in life.
Experts suggest that by 2025 humanity will generate on average 160 zettabytes of data annually. Today, this amount of data equal to 16 zettabytes. Single zettabytes is 1021 bytes of data, so now you can roughly imagine the scale of the current situation. Today’s existing storage solutions are not only ineffective, but also require significant energy costs, as well as large spaces to accommodate the necessary iron.
Irish researchers have proposed another way of storing data inside DNA. To date, several groups of scientists are trying to develop similar technologies with their own methods, but the specialists from the Institute of Technology Waterford approached the problem from an unusual perspective. They use to archive and record the data bacteria. This method allows you to keep 1 zettabytes of data just 1 gram of DNA.
“We see in the DNA of some semblance of a software cell containing a code that fully describes its functionality. That is why we can safely assume that DNA can be used to store our own data. Take information in digital form, will convert it into nucleotides and using the stored data,” says project leader Dr. Sasitharan, Balasubramaniam.
At the moment this method is very expensive, but over time its cost will decrease to a reasonable bracket. Once it happened to familiar to us today as hard disks or solid state drives data. The technology, created by Irish scholars, uses plasmids (small DNA molecules physically separate from the genomic chromosomes and are capable of Autonomous replicated) for encoding and storing data inside strain Novablue E. coli is E Coli.
The choice in favor of this strain was made largely due to the fact that it has a fixed position, ensuring data security. Data can be extracted using the process of conjugation and to carry from place to place by mobile HB101 strain of bacteria of the same E. coli. Control over the process, scientists carry out with the help of the antibiotics tetracycline and streptomycin. This method is not only costly, as we have noted above, but also quite slow. At the current time for search of necessary data required for up to three days real time. But scientists believe the process can be greatly speeded up, because already today there are methods of writing data to DNA in seconds.
Scientists have invented a new way to store data inside DNA
Sergey Grey