The bacteria E.coli is better known for giving us gastric problems,
we get, if we eat unhygienic food.
This microbe has a easy to edit genome, and has helped humankind in many ways.
Insulin, antibiotics, cancer drugs, biofuels, synthetic rubber have all benefited from this bacteria.
Scientists have stored all the six hundred thousand words of the book 'War and Peace', in DNA.
They have also stored the list of all the plant material archived in the Svalbard seed vault, in DNA.
Now scientists have for the first time a living library, embedded within the microbe E.coli.
Scientists used CRISPR to insert bits of DNA encoded with a GIF file of a galloping horse,
into live bacteria.
When they retrieved and reconstructed the images, by sequencing the bacterial genomes,
they got back the same images they put in, with 90% accuracy.
This experiment is an interesting way to show off, CRISPR's power to turn living cells,
into digital data warehouses.
This experiment is not intended to store visual images in the future.
It is meant to demonstrate that human cells, like neurons can be used as biological recording devices.
E.coli is just a proof of concept to show what can be done with the CRISPR system.
The ultimate goal of the scientist is to enable cells to gather information about themselves,
and store it in the genome, so that scientist can view it later.
They feel it is a challenge uniquely suited to CRISPR.
CRISPR-Cas9 is a revolutionary molecular tool that combines special proteins, and RNA molecules,
to precisely cut and edit DNA.
It was discovered in bacteria, which use it as a sort of ancient immune system,
to fend off viral attackers.
Cas9 is the protein that does all the cutting.
The lesser known Cas1 and Cas2 tell Cas9 where to do the cutting.
Scientist hope to get the human brain cells, to show how exactly they develop into neurons.
They think they will be able to do that because of how Cas1 and Cas2 work.
During the viral invasion the protein go out and grab the piece into the attackers DNA.
They then slip this into the bacteria genome for another enzyme, to turn it into a matching guide RNA.
This is what helps Cas9 find and chop up copies of the virus in the cell.
Cas1 and Cas2 do not just insert the viral DNA into the genome at random.
As they encounter new threats, they add DNA in the order in which it arrives.
This makes a cells genome into a temporal record of whatever the cell encounters.
This is similar to the core of ice holding a molecular record.
Some day, scientist hope to use the system to record synaptic activity.
Embedded signals in the genome could tell researchers,
exactly which neurons were talking to each other at different times,
in response to different stimuli.
If we think the cell as a processor, this adds a thumb drive, which stores information for later processing.
Some scientists have succeeded in storing 200 mega bytes,
and are working on large scale storage systems using DNA.
This technology has the potential to become a long term storage method.
If stored properly in a cold dry place, DNA can be kept intact for more than hundred thousand years.
Live cells have the disadvantage of not being 100% accurate.
They are susceptible to mutations overtime.
This would further degrade data integrity.
What is interesting about the E.coli experiment, is the amount of edits,
achieved with high fidelity.