Genomic Tape Recorder
Scientists have managed to turn bacteria into analog storage devices
KM.RU based on MIT materials: Bacteria become “genomic tape recorders”By changing the genome of E. coli, American scientists managed to turn bacteria into analog storage devices, according to the journal Science (Fahim Farzadfard, Timothy K. Lu, Genomically encoded analog memory with precise in vivo DNA writing in living cell populations).
According to the authors of the work, memory is stored on them for a long time, and it is also easily extracted and erased. These properties make it an ideal tool for medical and environmental monitoring sensors.
Note that previous attempts by scientists to store information in bacterial genomes relied on digital memory and, as a result, they functioned on the principle of "all or nothing" (organisms could remember whether an event happened or not).
The new analog memory storage system is able to record the strength of the external impact and the duration of this impact.
As part of the work, a so-called "genomic tape recorder" was created, which allows you to record information in any part of the genome. Scientists forced cells to produce the enzyme recombinase, which is able to insert a DNA sequence into a given place in the cell genome. This enzyme is produced exclusively by contact with a predetermined signal (for example, a certain molecule or a flash of light).
The memory recorded in this way is stored in the genes of bacteria and is transmitted from generation to generation, and it can be extracted in two ways. In the case when DNA has been inserted into a non-functional part of the genome, it will need to be sequenced, and when a new DNA sequence has turned on the antibiotic resistance gene, then scientists can expose bacteria to these substances and reveal how many organisms survived (thanks to the gene). The proportion obtained in this way will allow you to determine the strength and duration of the original signal that started the DNA recording.
As for the erasure of such memory, for this purpose it is possible to force cells to include another DNA fragment in the same part of the genome in a similar way.
The authors of the work believe that such bacterial memory devices can be used in sensors that monitor the environment. In addition, they can also be placed in the human intestine, and microbes will monitor the ingestion of fats and sugar or warn about inflammatory processes.
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