Human DNA is a new frontier for data storage.
But research from Brown University shows that deoxyribonucleic acid isn’t the only molecular data depository in town.
In a paper published by the journal PLOS ONE, the team showed they could encode kilobyte-scale image files into metabolite solutions, then read the information back out again.
“This is a proof-of-concept that we hope makes people think about using wider ranges of molecules to store information,” senior study author Jacob Rosenstein, a professor in Brown’s School of Engineering, said in a statement.
Artificial metabolomes—solutions containing sugars, amino acids, and other small molecules—could eventually replace hard drives.
By 2040, the world will have produced as much as 3 septillion (that’s 3, followed by 24 zeros) bits of data, according to the Ivy League research institute.
But there may not be enough chip-grade silicon on Earth to achieve this using traditional semiconductor chips.
Enter small molecules, which all living organisms use to digest food and carry out chemical functions.
Researchers saved this image of a cat into metabolite solutions (via Brown University)
Rosenstein & Co. assembled their own artificial metabolomes, using the presence or absence of particular metabolites as the binary 0s and 1s that encode digital information.
Researchers successfully encoded and retrieved various image files—pictures of an Egyptian cat, an ibex, and an anchor—up to 2 kilobytes in size with 99 percent accuracy.
“In some situations, small molecules like the ones we used here can have even greater information density than DNA,” Rosenstein boasted.
There are some limitations: Many metabolites chemically interact with each other when placed in the same solution, possibly resulting in errors or loss of data.
The team, however, believes that hurdle is simply “a bug that could ultimately become a feature”; it may be possible to harness those reactions to manipulate data.
“Using molecules for computation is a tremendous opportunity, and we are only starting to figure out how to take advantage of it,” Brown assistant professor of chemistry and study co-author Brenda Rubenstein explained.
“Research like this challenge what people see as being possible in molecular data systems,” she continued. “DNA is not the only molecule that can be used to store and process information.
“It’s exciting to recognize that there are other possibilities out there with great potential,” Rubenstein said.
The study was funded by a contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration (DARPA).
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