04-28-2014, 04:08 AM
Applications in computer science
Recent developments in the field of Genetic Engineering have focused on the Computer Science too. Namely, scientists are trying to use the DNA as digital data storage. How? Well, when you think about it, there is a lot of similarity between the way living creatures are “coded” and the way computer information is coded. On one side, we have the quaternary system of nitrogenous bases, stored in the form of nucleic acid DNA, which is then read in the form of codons, translated by the cell’s machinery – ribosomes, resulting in the product. On the other side, we have the binary system of ones and zeros, which can then be interpreted in different ways, resulting in the digital product.
This similarity between the two codes, the binary digital one and the quaternary biological one, has given scientists the idea of merging these two. Why? Because the space used by digital data could be decreased enormously, and it could be kept in stable form a lot longer.
The basic principle behind this usage of DNA is that a conversion has to be made. Scientists have assigned Adenine and Cytosine as zero and Guanine and Thymine as one. The next step is to encode the sequence of ones and zeroes into the sequence of nucleotides. Synthesis of oligonucleotides is the following step, which is the actual process of storing of digital data. If we want to read the information, we will have to use sequencers, which are able to interpret the sequence of nucleotides. Once we have the sequence, we can decode it back into the binary code and use it in the computer systems.
The biggest advantage of this process is that 1 gram of DNA can hold up to 700 terabytes of information! Moreover, if the DNA is stored properly, in cold, dry and dark place, it can survive intact for thousands of years. However, the reading of the data is the biggest issue, since it requires sequencing which takes a lot of time, especially if we are dealing with vast amount of information. But there is place for improvement and this could be our next way of digital data storage.
Recent developments in the field of Genetic Engineering have focused on the Computer Science too. Namely, scientists are trying to use the DNA as digital data storage. How? Well, when you think about it, there is a lot of similarity between the way living creatures are “coded” and the way computer information is coded. On one side, we have the quaternary system of nitrogenous bases, stored in the form of nucleic acid DNA, which is then read in the form of codons, translated by the cell’s machinery – ribosomes, resulting in the product. On the other side, we have the binary system of ones and zeros, which can then be interpreted in different ways, resulting in the digital product.
This similarity between the two codes, the binary digital one and the quaternary biological one, has given scientists the idea of merging these two. Why? Because the space used by digital data could be decreased enormously, and it could be kept in stable form a lot longer.
The basic principle behind this usage of DNA is that a conversion has to be made. Scientists have assigned Adenine and Cytosine as zero and Guanine and Thymine as one. The next step is to encode the sequence of ones and zeroes into the sequence of nucleotides. Synthesis of oligonucleotides is the following step, which is the actual process of storing of digital data. If we want to read the information, we will have to use sequencers, which are able to interpret the sequence of nucleotides. Once we have the sequence, we can decode it back into the binary code and use it in the computer systems.
The biggest advantage of this process is that 1 gram of DNA can hold up to 700 terabytes of information! Moreover, if the DNA is stored properly, in cold, dry and dark place, it can survive intact for thousands of years. However, the reading of the data is the biggest issue, since it requires sequencing which takes a lot of time, especially if we are dealing with vast amount of information. But there is place for improvement and this could be our next way of digital data storage.
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