[4S00m] 01. ASBA - Part 10

11:00 AM - 11:15 AM JST(2:00 AM - 2:15 AM UTC)

[4ASBA-04-2-KL] An in vivo synthesis-free binary data encoding platform using programmable base editing for DNA data storage.

○Louise F. H. Funke^1,2, Chueh Loo Poh^1,2, Wenjun Liao^1,2, Zhangyuan Lin^1,2, Yutong Ji^1,2 (1. National University of Singapore (Singapore), 2. National Centre of Engineering Biology (NCEB) (Singapore))

Keywords:

DNA data storage,Base editing

The need for sustainable storage of cold data is becoming ever larger. DNA offers an attractive alternative for long-term data storage due to its durability, density, and minimal resource footprint. Here, we present a novel DNA-based data encoding and storage method with unprecedented writing fidelity, speed and scalability. We employ a small defined set of “Guide” E. coli cells to deliver guide RNAs to a writer cell, programming base edits at defined target positions at a synthetic, non-functional “writing sequence.” Binary code data are represented as position-specific base edit states of “0” and “1”. The in vivo encoded data is then amplified, barcoded and stored as DNA amplicons which can be subsequently sequenced and decoded back to binary code. A filtering strategy allows us to reduce intrinsic sequencing errors by an order of magnitude, enabling accurate decoding at higher writing densities. We evaluated multiple orthogonal base editors to expand the encoding strategy and improve density and recovery. The best-performing base editors were used to store and retrieve two of humanity’s culturally and technologically significant artifacts: i) a greeting included on NASA’s Voyager Golden Record (6,804 bits) and ii) a photograph of Navajo petroglyphs from crow canyon (25,740 bits). This in vivo, synthesis-free information encoding approach uses minimal reagents and microlitre-scale volumes, and demonstrates in vivo DNA data encoding for sustainable, long-term, low-cost data storage.