Along with RNA and proteins, DNA is one of the three major macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life.
All cells in a person’s body contains the same DNA. Most of it can be found in the cell nucleus (nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).
The information in DNA is stored as a code made up of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). Human DNA consists of about 3 billion bases, which is similar to every human being in the planet. The base sequence of these four chemical bases determines the information available for building and maintaining an organism
DNA was discovered in 1953 by James Watson and Francis Crick. Their discovery is now accepted as the first correct double-helix model of DNA structure.
Stanford bioengineers create rewritable digital data storage in DNA
Sometimes, remembering and forgetting are hard to do.
"It took us three years and 750 tries to make it work, but we finally did it," said Jerome Bonnet, PhD, of his latest research, a method for repeatedly encoding, storing and erasing digital data within the DNA of living cells.
Bonnet, a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, worked with graduate student Pakpoom Subsoontorn and assistant professor Drew Endy, PhD, to reapply natural enzymes adapted from bacteria to flip specific sequences of DNA back and forth at will. All three scientists work in the Department of Bioengineering, a joint effort of the School of Engineering and the School of Medicine.
In practical terms, they have devised the genetic equivalent of a binary digit — a "bit" in data parlance. "Essentially, if the DNA section points in one direction, it's a zero. If it points the other way, it's a one," Subsoontorn explained.
"Programmable data storage within the DNA of living cells would seem an incredibly powerful tool for studying cancer, aging, organismal development and even the natural environment," said Endy.
