Flash drives in a test tube

Scientists encoded 100 bytes of information in the genome of E.coli bacteria using CRISPR technology

DailyTechInfo based on the Next Big Future: 100 bits recorded in e coli bacteria using CRISPR editing

A group of scientists from Harvard University has developed a method that allows using the CRISPR/Cas genome editing technology to record binary data containing information about certain events that occurred inside a living cell. Until recently, the largest amount of information that could be "written" into the bowels of a living cell was only 11 bits, less than is required to encode two characters in a conventional computer. Harvard scientists report that 100 bytes of information recorded by them in the bacterial genome are far from the limit, because more than 3000 bytes of information can be recorded in the cells of the simplest microorganisms, for example, Sulfolobus tokodaii. Moreover, specially grown synthetic bacteria with a very long genetic code can have an information volume comparable to the volume of modern hard drives.

CRISPR/Cas technology works by cutting short sections of DNA from the donor genome, which was used as the genome of one of the infectious viruses. These sites are inserted into the genome of the microorganism in certain places. This mechanism, which also uses the functions of RNA, is very similar to the natural defense mechanism, which introduces sections of the viral genome into the genome of living cells in order to deceive real viruses attacking cells.

The information is encoded precisely in the form of sections of viral DNA, the so-called oligomers. At the same time, new viral sites are introduced into the genetic code, replacing the old viral sites, this allows the entire genome of the microorganism as a whole to maintain its operability.

To record the information, the scientists used a strain of E.Coli bacteria whose DNA already contained chains of protein sequences called Cas. The Cas1 and Cas2 enzymes introduced into the bacterium ensured that the corresponding places in the genetic code were replaced by artificial viral oligomers strictly in the sequence with which they were introduced into the cell.

The process of reading the recorded information consists in carrying out a reverse procedure that sequentially cuts out sections of the synthetic code from the DNA. "Essentially, by reading the information, we measure changes in the concentration of certain nucleic acids," the scientists write. – "A more ideal option would be the use of intermediate RNA molecules, and we may come to this in the near future."

One of the possible applications of the technology developed by them, scientists consider the creation of bacteria that will collect information about environmental conditions and other microorganisms existing inside some organs, for example, in the human intestine. "Such bacteria can kill other bacteria and microorganisms in their immediate vicinity. By releasing certain enzymes, they can split the DNA of the dead microorganisms and preserve some of the sites in their own genome, which can later be extracted and read the information recorded in it," the scientists say. – "This idea seems crazy, but there are bacteria in the world that do something like this naturally."

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  14.06.2016