Billions of years before civilization constructed the hard disc, evolution had chosen DNA to store the most valuable information: the genetic code. DNA had gotten so adept at this activity that it was utilised by all known living organisms on the earth once upon a time. Thanks to technological advancements, we can now easily "read" and "write" DNA, and scientists are now looking at new applications for this ancient molecule to store new types of data—data generated at an exponential rate by humans in the age of big data.
The concept of using DNA to store information other than genetic code has gotten a lot of buzz. After all, physical limits constrain computer coding of 0 and 1. We have a huge problem storing all of the data generated by humans in a secure manner. There is only one recent example to use as an example: MySpace, the once-dominant social networking site, announced the loss of ten years of data due to a server migration plan. And there's a chance it won't be salvaged. The fragility and inefficiency of current technology can be shown in how we protect long-term data, for as by restarting computers after a period of sleep. This isn't only a space issue; information storage requires a large amount of energy.
The qualities of DNA may be able to assist in the resolution of these problems. For example, the double helix shape of DNA is great for storing information since if you know one strand's sequence, you'll know the other. If DNA can be kept stable for a long time, it suggests that the integrity and correctness of information can be preserved for a long time as well. Scientists were able to successfully analyse DNA obtained from the remains of an ancient human individual who lived 8100 years ago in 2017, despite the fact that the remains had not been preserved in ideal circumstances. When kept in a dry, cool environment, DNA can persist for tens of thousands of years.
Furthermore, the double helix may be folded into a very compact shape, which is perhaps its most appealing feature. The nucleus of every human cell is about 10 microns in diameter. When fully stretched, DNA in the nucleus can reach a length of 2 metres. To put it another way, if all of a person's DNA is strung together, it can span 100 megameters. In 2014, scientists anticipated that one gramme of DNA could possibly store 455 exabytes of data (equivalent to 1 billion GB). This data storage density is one million times higher than that of a hard drive.
Although DNA has been tested as a storage medium, it still confronts substantial scientific, economic, and ethical problems before it can be utilised to replace existing hard drives. In the world of information technology, DNA is now widely used to capture old Hollywood movies or to store renowned old movies in genetic code rather than fragile microfilms.
DNA has recently acquired favour as a more secure gene therapy research and development tool, hastening the discovery of anti-cancer drugs; it can even be used to track an organism's genetic performance. Because DNA is more scalable in both generation and storage than other molecules, it can be used not only as a medium for long-term data storage, but also to generate data at an unprecedented rate in the most cutting-edge applications in this field. Simultaneously, a massive amount of data is generated, and the resources needed to store it are drastically reduced.