Scientists at
Harvard University have managed to encode images into the DNA of a living
cell. They have created the prototype for a molecular recorder that they will
use to collect data over a period of time. In order to make the molecular
recorder the scientists used the immune defenses in bacteria that add the
genetic code of a previously attacking virus into its own genome for future
defense against the same virus. The scientists collected strands of synthetic
DNA that encoded the positions and shades of image pixels, as the letters G,T,C
and A. Then the strands of DNA were given to E. coli bacteria and they added
the DNA to their own bacterial genome, as if the DNA were an infecting virus.
After the E. coli had grown after about a week, the originally encoded image
strands were found in the bacteria's genome. This proved that information can
be accurately embedded, stored and received from live DNA. This could lend
itself to multiple applications that involve recording events that occur in the
body or other environments over time. Using DNA to store and record information could allow us to
acquire information easier than manually recording data. This technique once
perfected could become a major asset to learning about our surroundings and
even our own bodies.
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