Department of Systems Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Nat Chem Biol. 2021 Mar;17(3):246-253. doi: 10.1038/s41589-020-00711-4. Epub 2021 Jan 11.
DNA has been the predominant information storage medium for biology and holds great promise as a next-generation high-density data medium in the digital era. Currently, the vast majority of DNA-based data storage approaches rely on in vitro DNA synthesis. As such, there are limited methods to encode digital data into the chromosomes of living cells in a single step. Here, we describe a new electrogenetic framework for direct storage of digital data in living cells. Using an engineered redox-responsive CRISPR adaptation system, we encoded binary data in 3-bit units into CRISPR arrays of bacterial cells by electrical stimulation. We demonstrate multiplex data encoding into barcoded cell populations to yield meaningful information storage and capacity up to 72 bits, which can be maintained over many generations in natural open environments. This work establishes a direct digital-to-biological data storage framework and advances our capacity for information exchange between silicon- and carbon-based entities.
DNA 一直是生物学中主要的信息存储介质，它作为数字时代下一代高密度数据存储介质具有巨大的潜力。目前，绝大多数基于 DNA 的数据存储方法都依赖于体外 DNA 合成。因此，将数字数据编码到活细胞染色体中的方法非常有限，无法一步完成。在这里，我们描述了一种新的电化学框架，用于在活细胞中直接存储数字数据。我们使用工程化的氧化还原响应型 CRISPR 适应系统，通过电刺激将二进制数据以 3 位单位编码到细菌细胞的 CRISPR 阵列中。我们证明了可以将多路复用数据编码到带有条形码的细胞群体中，从而产生有意义的信息存储和高达 72 位的容量，并且可以在自然开放环境中保持多个世代。这项工作建立了一个直接的数字到生物数据存储框架，并提高了我们在硅基和碳基实体之间进行信息交换的能力。
