DNA has emerged as a tantalising way to store digital information in recent years, but it comes with a significant problem: the molecule is聽so fragile that individual DNA strands rapidly degrade. A new technique to boost its survivability could see the molecules used to archive our data.
DNA has been floated as a reliable medium for large data storage, partly because it has a theoretical storage capacity of about 4.55 million terabytes per gram. Unfortunately, the fragile molecule deteriorates unless it is stored under cool and dry conditions.
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鈥淭hen you have the mass and the size of the chamber in which you put the DNA,鈥� says Robert Grass at ETH Zurich, Switzerland 鈥� so, in practice, it isn鈥檛 really possible to build facilities that store huge amounts of聽data in just a few grams.
Grass and his colleagues worked in partnership with Microsoft to develop a DNA storage method that makes the molecule more robust.
The method involves polymer-coated particles that help bind strands of DNA together and increase their storage density. The bound DNA strands are then coated with a protective layer of silica that limits environmental damage.
The researchers compared the longevity聽of unprotected DNA with their coated version by encoding samples of each with data 鈥� using the DNA鈥檚 genetic code in place of digital 0s and 1s 鈥� before subjecting them to 70掳C temperatures and 50聽per cent relative humidity.
Within a week, more than 98聽per聽cent of the unprotected DNA聽was no longer readable. The聽encapsulated DNA was still聽readable after two weeks (Advanced Functional Materials, doi.org/c6dg).
The team estimates that encapsulated DNA has a half-life of up to 90聽years, if stored at 20掳C.
