Can you Imagine 1,000,000,000 Tera-bytes in Just 1 Gram.?
Yes this is possible Through DNA Data Storage
Imagine 1,000,000,000 Tera-bytes in Just 1 Gram..?
As hard drives, Flash drives are getting smaller and smaller day by day.. and we need a lot smaller data storing Techniques…
So, scientists are Doing researches and huge tests for Storing data and Retrieving it from DNA.
This will a huge boom to the recent storage Devices transforming Technologies.. Imagine 1,000,000,000 Tera-bytes in Just 1 Gram..?
So, guys lets see how it is done.
Firstly, DNA is made up of
The four types of nitrogen bases are
- Adenine(A),
- Thymine(T),
- Guanine (G)
- Cytosine (C).
Pros
- High data density—At the molecular level, the digital storage density is at least a million-fold higher than any of our current technologies
- High stability—There are plenty of samples on how DNA evidence from decades ago can provide clues to the identity of an individual. For example, scientists obtained genetic data from a wooly mammoth buried in a frozen tundra after thousands of years.
- Easy storage—DNA molecules wind their way into a tiny package, providing enormous space saving for digital storage.
Cons-
- Reagents—A polymerase is required for you to decipher and decode the DNA. That could mean time and person-hours in a specialized lab.
- Synthesis costs—Although the price of DNA synthesis is going down, it can still be expensive to synthesize a digital library using DNA. In addition, the time and process required to synthesize each fragment and the encoding can be time-consuming.
- Sequencing costs—Cost of sequencing is plummeting, but it could mean that the digital information is not easily accessible if you do not have a sequencer or sequencing facility nearby or enough money to fully decode your data.
- Coverage issues—As we have discussed, to achieve 100 percent accuracy, multiple coverages and sequencing reads are required. In the future, more clever ways of compressing and encoding data will have to be used to make digital DNA storage a reality.
- Long-term storage format—Right now we are still not sure how to best store the DNA. Should we store it in wet or dry? Embedded in a matrix or as part of a chip?
Security Issues
- Introduction of Viruses
- Some viruses can integrate into your DNA and this changes the sequencing that area by adding the virus genes.HIV is an example of this kind of a virus.
- They introduce a “nick” into the DNA and then use a protein called integrate to insert themselves into the genome. Sometimes they can interrupt a gene, which would cause it to be defective, or it can make a gene that would be silent “turn on” which can cause problems.
- Most of the genome does not contain genes so most of the insertions do not cause problems.
- Other viruses like the ones that cause colds or skin rashes do not integrate into DNA, but they live in cells & make proteins that cause you trouble
