Engineers at MIT have transformed
the genome of E. coli into a storage
device. To make the E. coli bacteria into a storage device, they had to engineer the
cells to produce a recombinase enzyme.
This would allow them to insert DNA (or a sequence of DNA), which would
only activate during certain circumstances or input. After the DNA is activated, the bacteria
would pass the information down to each generation allowing for long term
memory.
Timothy Lu, electrical, computer
science, and biological engineer, explained the engineered bacteria has the potential
to advance medical and environmental sensors. It could potentially detect
increased carbon dioxide in the ocean, or detect infections/disease in
humans. This type of information could
then expedite medical help; instead of wasting type determining the problem, a
doctor could go straight to medical procedures.
The idea of using bacteria as
storage devices for information is not new.
In fact using bacteria to store information was attempt in 2001 and 2007
with no success. In 2010, Chinese Biochemistry
students developed a way to use bacteria as a way to store electronic data. They estimated they could use bacteria as a
sort of “bio-hard-disk” to store up 900000 gigabytes, or 450 two terabyte (2000
GB) hard drives. And because they are
bacteria, they can reproduce and ensure the data is store permanently. This could easily advance biotechnology
further than it already has been.
Figure 2 The largest storage device has a capacity of
320MG. Bacteria has more than 2800 times
that.
The fact we have come so far as to
be able to use bacteria as storage devices, is nothing short of
incredible. I knew were advancing
further and further with bioengineering and biotechnology, but to see and read
about its fruition excites me. The
advances we could make in the fields of technology, environmental, and medical
sciences is amazing. The two articles
(one for technology and one for medical/environmental) show the scientific
community is constantly advancing and working to make a better world.
Related Article: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/300831
This discovery is truly exciting. This could lead to storage of significant data that is so large that contemporary technology can not store them.
ReplyDeleteThis could be amazing! I know the fear and frustration that comes with computer hard drives, my dad lost a lot of important files when his hard drive died a few years ago and we never got everything back. If this technology could fix that among other problems such as storing huge amounts of data that your typical home PC can't handle as of yet further advances won't be far behind.
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