B CUBE Center for Molecular Bioengineering, Technische Universität Dresden, Tatzberg 41, 01307, Dresden, Germany.
Chembiochem. 2020 Sep 1;21(17):2503-2511. doi: 10.1002/cbic.202000149. Epub 2020 May 28.
DNA has become a promising candidate as a future data storage medium; this makes DNA steganography indispensable in DNA data security. PCR primers are conventional secret keys in DNA steganography. Brute force testing of different primers will be extremely time consuming, and practically unaffordable when high-throughput sequencing is used. However, the encrypted information can be sequenced and read once the primers are intercepted. A new steganography approach is needed to make the DNA-encoded information safer, if not unhackable. Mixing information-carrying DNA with a partially degenerated DNA library containing single or multiple restriction sites, we have built an additional protective layer that can be removed by desired restriction enzymes as secondary secret keys. As PCR is inevitable for reading DNA-encrypted information, heating will cause reshuffling and generate endonuclease-resistant mismatched duplexes, especially for DNA with high sequence diversity. Consequently, with the incorporation of randomness, DNA steganography possesses both quantum key distribution (QKD)-like function for detecting PCR by an interceptor and a self-destructive property. It is noteworthy that the background noise generated through the protective layer is independent from any sequencing technology including Sanger and high-throughput sequencing. With a DNA ink incorporating the steganography, we have shown that the authenticity of a piece of writing can be confirmed only by authorized persons with knowledge of all embedded keys.
DNA 已成为未来数据存储介质的有前途的候选者; 这使得 DNA 隐写术在 DNA 数据安全中不可或缺。PCR 引物是 DNA 隐写术中的常规秘密密钥。不同引物的暴力破解测试将非常耗时，并且在使用高通量测序时几乎无法承受。然而，一旦截获引物，加密信息就可以进行测序和读取。如果不能破解，需要一种新的隐写术方法来使 DNA 编码信息更安全。我们将携带信息的 DNA 与包含单个或多个限制位点的部分退化 DNA 文库混合，构建了一个额外的保护层，该保护层可以作为二级秘密密钥被所需的限制酶去除。由于 PCR 是读取 DNA 加密信息所必需的，加热会导致重排并产生内切酶抗性错配双链体，特别是对于具有高序列多样性的 DNA。因此，通过引入随机性，DNA 隐写术具有类似于量子密钥分发 (QKD) 的功能，可通过拦截器检测 PCR，并且具有自毁特性。值得注意的是，通过保护层生成的背景噪声与包括 Sanger 和高通量测序在内的任何测序技术都无关。通过包含隐写术的 DNA 墨水，我们已经证明，只有具有所有嵌入密钥知识的授权人员才能确认一段文字的真实性。
