DNA can be used to reliably store a vast amount of digital data. However, retrieval or manipulation of specific data encoded in these molecules has hitherto been difficult. Now, researchers from the CNRS, the ESPCI Paris-PSL .
October 20, 2022
DNA can be used to reliably store a vast amount of digital data. However, retrieval or manipulation of specific data encoded in these molecules has hitherto been difficult. Now, researchers from the CNRS, the ESPCI Paris-PSL and the University of Tokyo have pioneered the application of a new method that harnesses enzymes, offering initial clues as to how these technical obstacles may be overcome. Their findings are reported in Nature, the October 20, 2022.
Nature has indisputably invented the best solution for storing a massive amount of data: DNA. This understanding has inspired the use of DNA for the storage of digital data, converting binary (0 or 1) numbers into one of the four different DNA « letters » (A, T, C, or G).
But how does one find a specific datum in the library of information stored as DNA? And how can calculations with DNA-encoded data be performed directly, without first converting them back into electronic data? These are the questions that teams from the LIMMS (CNRS / University of Tokyo) and Gulliver (CNRS / ESPCI Paris-PSL) research laboratories have sought to answer.
