DNA The future of data storage

We all know hard disks, memory cards, pen drives. We use these to store digital data like videos, audios, PDFs, etc. One of the limitations of these devices is that they get damaged within a few years. But what if we want to store any data for hundreds of years? This is where DNA will work as a difficult tool.

You will be surprised to know that it is possible to use DNA as data storage! DNA remains unchanged for thousands of years. Using this property of DNA, we can store any data for thousands of years. But how can we do it? Let's unravel this mystery. Those of us who know even a little about the structure of DNA must have heard of the names of nitrogenous bases called adenine (A), thiamine (T), guanine (G) and cytosine (C). We can consider these bases as representatives of 0 and 1. For example: adenine (A) is 00, thiamine (T) - 01, guanine (G) - 10, cytosine (C) - 11. But why do we think of the bases as 0 and 1? Because, computers do not understand anything except 0 and 1. Let's say you want to store the word 'Royal'. Since the computer does not understand Bengali or English, the computer stores this word as 01 01 00 10 01 10 11 11 01 11 10 01 01 01 10 00 01 01 10 11 00. The discussion on how the computer converted the word 'Royal' into 0 and 1 will be for another day. Now let's return to our main discussion on DNA.

Now if we want to store the word 'Royal' in DNA, how do we do it? If you have read carefully till now, you should understand. We have to synthesize DNA in such a way that it represents the sequence 01 01 00 10 01 10 11 11 01 11 10 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 10 00 01 01 01 10 11 00. DNA synthesis means making DNA artificially. A little earlier, we assumed that adenine (A) – 00, thiamine (T) – 01, guanine (G) – 10 and cytosine (C) – 11.

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