Totally RAD: Bioengineers Create Rewritable Digital Data Storage in DNA

[2on2u]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120521163751.htm

ScienceDaily (May 21, 2012) — Scientists have devised a method for repeatedly encoding, storing and erasing digital data within the DNA of living cells.

Sometimes, remembering and forgetting are hard to do.

"It took us three years and 750 tries to make it work, but we finally did it," said Jerome Bonnet, PhD, of his latest research, a method for repeatedly encoding, storing and erasing digital data within the DNA of living cells.

snip>>The researchers found it was fairly easy to flip a section of DNA in either direction. "But we discovered time and again that most of our designs failed when the two proteins were used together within the same cell," said Endy. "Ergo: Three years and 750 tries to get the balance of protein levels right."

Bonnet has now tested RAD modules in single microbes that have doubled more than 100 times and the switch has held. He has likewise switched the latch and watched a cell double 90 times, and set it back. The latch will even store information when the enzymes are not present. In short, RAD works. It is reliable and it is rewritable.<<