DNA has emerged as a tantalising way to store digital information in recent years, but it comes with a significant problem: the molecule isĀ 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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āThen you have the mass and the size of the chamber in which you put the DNA,ā says Robert Grass at ETH Zurich, Switzerland ā so, in practice, it isnāt really possible to build facilities that store huge amounts ofĀ 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 longevityĀ of unprotected DNA with their coated version by encoding samples of each with data ā using the DNAās genetic code in place of digital 0s and 1s ā before subjecting them to 70Ā°C temperatures and 50Ā per cent relative humidity.
Within a week, more than 98Ā perĀ cent of the unprotected DNAĀ was no longer readable. TheĀ encapsulated DNA was stillĀ readable after two weeks (Advanced Functional Materials, doi.org/c6dg).
The team estimates that encapsulated DNA has a half-life of up to 90Ā years, if stored at 20Ā°C.
