DNA Storage and How it Works

In the process of DNA storage, the binary digits within your digital files are converted from 1s and 0s into A, C, G, and T; the four nucleotides. The physical storage is a synthesized chain of DNA, with the nucleotides in a sequence corresponding to the order of binary digits within the digital file. Then, DNA strands matching the sequence of the code are created via synthesis and held in storage indefinitely. Today, the primary methodology for synthesizing DNA is done using microarray-based oligonucleotide synthesis technology. On microarrays, DNA synthesis produces large volumes of tiny oligo segments that are stranded together to produce larger gene sequences. To recover such data, one simply needs to sequence the chain of DNA, translating it back into its original digital sequence.