时间:2024-09-20 09:09:58 来源:网络整理编辑:綜合
Researchers just figured out how to squeeze 200 MB of data onto some strands of DNA.That's right, th
Researchers just figured out how to squeeze 200 MB of data onto some strands of DNA.
That's right, the same stuff that's inside all of us, the blueprints for our eye color, ear shape, height and more -- all that makes you, you -- also happens to be a pretty decent medium for storing the same kind of information you put on a traditional USB memory stick.
SEE ALSO:This tiny 5-year-old wants you to watch his new YouTube science showMicrosoft and the University of Washington announced the storage breakthrough on Thursday, reporting that they had managed to store a 2010, high definition OK Go music video (see below) as well as 100 books and Crop Trust's seed database on some DNA strands. Storing data on synthetic DNA is not new, but 200 MB is a huge leap from the most recent DNA storage record of just 22 MB.
"It's a thousand times bigger than we had done last year. Just demonstrating that we can scale our methods... was really important," said lead researcher Luis Ceze, an associate professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington.
Researchers believe that DNA storage's incredibly compact nature and durability (it can hold information for thousands of years) could solve many of the world's long-term, data-storage problems.
That bit of DNA, which stored the video, art, books, a database and more, is smaller than the tip of a pencil. Compared to current storage technologies, DNA storage is incredibly dense. "A billion gigabytes fit in a one-inch cube, which is very small," said Karin Strauss, a researcher with Microsoft Research.
To understand how the scientists melded digital data with biology, you have to know a little bit about DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). Every strand of DNA is made up of a repeating pattern of four chemical bases: Adenine (A), Cytosine (C), Guanine (G) and Thymine (T).
To make the data compatible with DNA, the researchers had to convert the 1s and 0s of traditional data into those letters: ACGT. The next part sounds a bit like science fiction, as the team employed a third-party company, Twist Bioscience, to convert this newly mapped data into synthetic DNA, which they sent them back as a test tube full of dry DNA data.
Ceze agrees that it sounds like science fiction, but it's actually pretty straight forward. "DNA is already an information storage module. Nature uses it to store information about a living system's genes. We're just mapping a different kind of info into DNA," he said.
Storing the data is nice, but totally useless if you can't play back that awesome OK Go video.
UW Associate Professor Luis Henrique Ceze, in blue, and research scientist Lee Organick prepare DNA containing digital data for sequencing, which allows them to "read" and retrieve the original files.Credit: Tara Brown Photography/University of WashingtonTo make the data readable, researchers started with a DNA manipulation technique known as polymerase chain reaction, which amplifies DNA strands for other research. That enabled them to take a sample, amplify it and resequence the DNA, convert it back into bits and read it into specially coded RAM.
It's a fairly convoluted process, but Strauss and Ceze believe a DNA storage future is within reach. "We see no limitations in the physics," Strauss said.
"As a university researcher, looking at trends … and potential of the market … I think we could be able to see this affecting people’s lives within a decade,"Ceze added.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
TopicsMicrosoft
You can now play 'Solitaire' and 'Tic2024-09-20 09:08
艾克森明年將滿34歲 能否參加亞洲杯要看國足構建計劃2024-09-20 08:19
被打花!泰山青年軍0比7慘敗 亞冠曆史淨勝球歸零2024-09-20 08:13
梅米舍維奇 :很高興加入中國最大的俱樂部之一2024-09-20 08:06
Nate Parker is finally thinking about the woman who accused him of rape2024-09-20 08:04
官方:俱樂部資本收益造假調查結束 阿涅利德佬無罪2024-09-20 07:59
追星成功!女足姚偉曬白敬亭簽名照:未來要和你一起發光2024-09-20 07:41
巴黎VS馬賽首發:梅西內少姆巴佩領銜 巴坎布替補2024-09-20 07:11
Snapchat is about to explode in popularity, report says2024-09-20 07:00
官方:俱樂部資本收益造假調查結束 阿涅利德佬無罪2024-09-20 06:36
Early Apple2024-09-20 08:40
粵媒:中超形象在亞洲一落千丈 連續兩屆青年軍參賽惹非議2024-09-20 08:30
祝好!伯恩利中場疑似腳踝嚴重受傷 對手直接嚇哭2024-09-20 08:17
李磊提前兩周複出 被改造成中後衛沒有辜負主帥期望2024-09-20 08:11
Sound the alarms: Simone Biles finally met Zac Efron2024-09-20 08:09
曼聯球迷在球隊基地外抗議 紅魔報警求助+加強安保2024-09-20 07:47
追星成功!女足姚偉曬白敬亭簽名照 :未來要和你一起發光2024-09-20 07:43
盤點這些年廣州隊開出的罰單:5人被開除總罰款超千萬2024-09-20 06:49
Fiji wins first2024-09-20 06:36
頌克拉辛 :很高興被稱作“泰國梅西” 亞洲杯我們能進決賽2024-09-20 06:26