Toward practical high-capacity low-maintenance storage of digital information in synthesised DNA

Toward practical high-capacity low-maintenance storage of digital information in synthesised DNA

2013 February 7; 494(7435): 77–80. doi:10.1038/nature11875. | Nick Goldman1,*., Paul Bertone1, Siyuan Chen2, Christophe Dessimoz1, Emily M. LeProust2, Botond Sipos1, and Ewan Birney1
The article presents a scalable method for storing large amounts of digital information in synthesized DNA, addressing the challenges of current digital archiving systems that require active maintenance. The authors encoded 739 kB of computer files, totaling 5.2 million bits of Shannon information, into a DNA code, synthesized the DNA, sequenced it, and reconstructed the original files with 100% accuracy. The method uses a hypothetical long DNA molecule to represent the stored information, encoding it using shorter DNA fragments with added redundancy and error detection. The encoding scheme is designed to be robust and cost-effective, with theoretical analysis showing that it can scale beyond current global information volumes. The study demonstrates that DNA storage is a realistic technology for large-scale digital archiving, particularly for low-access, multi-century-long archives, and may become cost-effective for sub-50-year archives within a decade as costs continue to fall. The method's advantages include long-term preservation, low maintenance, and high data density, making it a promising solution for digital archiving.The article presents a scalable method for storing large amounts of digital information in synthesized DNA, addressing the challenges of current digital archiving systems that require active maintenance. The authors encoded 739 kB of computer files, totaling 5.2 million bits of Shannon information, into a DNA code, synthesized the DNA, sequenced it, and reconstructed the original files with 100% accuracy. The method uses a hypothetical long DNA molecule to represent the stored information, encoding it using shorter DNA fragments with added redundancy and error detection. The encoding scheme is designed to be robust and cost-effective, with theoretical analysis showing that it can scale beyond current global information volumes. The study demonstrates that DNA storage is a realistic technology for large-scale digital archiving, particularly for low-access, multi-century-long archives, and may become cost-effective for sub-50-year archives within a decade as costs continue to fall. The method's advantages include long-term preservation, low maintenance, and high data density, making it a promising solution for digital archiving.
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