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Molecular digital data storage using DNA

Nature Reviews Genetics volume 20, pages 456–466 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

Molecular data storage is an attractive alternative for dense and durable information storage, which is sorely needed to deal with the growing gap between information production and the ability to store data. DNA is a clear example of effective archival data storage in molecular form. In this Review, we provide an overview of the process, the state of the art in this area and challenges for mainstream adoption. We also survey the field of in vivo molecular memory systems that record and store information within the DNA of living cells, which, together with in vitro DNA data storage, lie at the growing intersection of computer systems and biotechnology.

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Fig. 1: Timeline of major published works on digital data storage with DNA.
Fig. 2: Overview of the major steps of digital data storage in DNA.
Fig. 3: Overview of the encoding–decoding process.
Fig. 4: Overview of in vivo strategies for molecular recording and storage of data in DNA.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank S. Yekhanin for input on coding methods and R. Carlson, D. Carmean, G. Seelig, B. Nguyen, L. Organick, Y.-J. Chen, K. Stewart, S. D. Ang, M. Willsey, C. Takahashi and R. Lopez for helpful general discussions on DNA data storage. This work was supported, in part, by sponsored research agreements with Microsoft and Oxford Nanopore Technologies and gifts from Microsoft and DARPA under the Molecular Informatics Program.

Reviewer information

Nature Reviews Genetics thanks R. Heckel and the other anonymous reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Luis Ceze, Jeff Nivala & Karin Strauss

  2. Microsoft Research, Redmond, WA, USA

    Karin Strauss

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  1. Luis Ceze
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  2. Jeff Nivala
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All authors contributed to all aspects of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Luis Ceze.

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Competing interests

L.C. is a consultant to Microsoft and a Venture Partner at Madrona Venture Group. K.S. is employed by Microsoft. J.N. is a consultant to Oxford Nanopore Technologies.

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Glossary

Archival storage

A method of retaining information outside of the internal memory of a computer.

Random access

The ability to select a portion of the data stored and thus avoid the need to read all the data in storage.

Erasures

The removal of writing, recorded material or data.

Error correcting codes

The results of mathematical manipulation of data to correct errors inserted in the data as bits are stored, transmitted and so on. The process typically involves computing a summary of the data and storing and/or transmitting it with the data and using the redundant information to correct those errors. An inner code refers to coding within a single strand to correct local errors. An outer code refers to whole new additional strands to deal with errors that are not covered by inner codes, for example, erasures.

Physical redundancy

The number of copies of each DNA species stored. Physical redundancy is not always available in the referenced work in Table 1, so we used the sequencing coverage as an upper bound for this number.

Logical ‘exclusive-or’ operation

A logic operation that outputs true only when inputs differ (that is, 0 xor 0 = 0; 0 xor 1 = 1; 1 xor 0 = 1; or 1 xor 1 = 0).

Logical density

The number of bits per nucleotide in the DNA sequences produced by the encoder.

Access latency

The time needed to retrieve data.

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Ceze, L., Nivala, J. & Strauss, K. Molecular digital data storage using DNA. Nat Rev Genet 20, 456–466 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-019-0125-3

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