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I find a few different articles about digital data storage in DNA but they don't seem to tell me why more data can be stored in DNA than classical medium? Maybe

I find a few different articles about digital data storage in DNA but they don't seem to tell me why more data can be stored in DNA than classical medium? Maybe I am not phrasing the question right. ""DNA can store digital information in a space that is orders of magnitude smaller than datacenters use today."" Would this DNA also exist in the same conditions as the data center or does it need more things?

fxfan 8y ago
It's mentioned in the article before the ATGC paragraph
- itchyjunk 8y ago
  ""Under the right conditions, DNA can last much longer than current archival storage technologies that degrade in a matter of decades. Some DNA has managed to persist in less than ideal storage conditions for tens of thousands of years in mammoth tusks and bones of early humans, and it should have relevancy as long as people are alive."" But that doesn't explain storage density. And biological DNA has mechanisms to survive in a cell but these synthetic DNA's might be standalone.
  - tomatotomato37 8y ago
    One other suspect thing about that is that the DNA in a body is essentially replicated across every single cell, which means maybe that the DNA from 10,000 yeras ago has just survived as a rule of statistics over any individual durability
  - leggomylibro 8y ago
    I wonder if you could make separate 'zip/unzip' stations to compress/decompress them with histone proteins, like the body does. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histone
mbreese 8y ago
Not only is DNA chemically stable and can last for years, has internal redundancy, but it is remarkably compact. DNA is an evolutionarily optimal data storage medium. To put it into context, each cell in your body contains 6 billion base pairs of data (two copies of your genome). Each base is one of 4 bits, so that’s 4^6000000000 of data in each cell. Your body has ~37 trillion cells [1]. A person is about the size of a rack (well, maybe 10-15U by volume), so that’s 3.7e13 * 4^6e9 bits per rack. A petabyte is 8e15 bits. That’s a lot of data storage capacity in a small space. Moreover, there is the potential for introducing more synthetic bases to increase the 4 to 6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/23829164/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/23829164/
- dooglius 8y ago
  The number of bits is the logarithm of possible cases; there are only two bits needed to describe the four bases, and only 12 billion bits needed to describe the 4^(6e9) possible configurations of data.
- yread 8y ago
  Moreover cell contains mostly other stuff than a nucleus so that's another factor of 10 or so. And human body has a lot of 'empty' space - lungs, stomach, veins, collagen, bones,....
- hn_throwaway_99 8y ago
  Minor correction: each base pair is one of 4 values (A, T, G, C), so each base pair is equivalent to 2 bits of data, which gives a number half of what you quoted.
  - faissaloo 8y ago
    8 if you include artificial base pairs (P, Z, B, S)
  - mbreese 8y ago
    Yes, I misworded it and gave the wrong numbers. I gave the number of possible combinations in a genome, which is 4^6e9. That’s obviously not the number to compare (and a slightly embarrassing mistake). With 6 gigabases per cell and 2bits per base, the storage capacity is 12 gigabits (1.5 gigabytes) per cell. And with 37 trillion cells (3.72e13) in a human body, that’s 3.72e13 cells * 1.5e9 bytes per cell which is 5.58e22 bytes per person or 55 zettabytes. This seems like a more reasonable number.

fxfan 8y ago

It's mentioned in the article before the ATGC paragraph

itchyjunk 8y ago
""Under the right conditions, DNA can last much longer than current archival storage technologies that degrade in a matter of decades. Some DNA has managed to persist in less than ideal storage conditions for tens of thousands of years in mammoth tusks and bones of early humans, and it should have relevancy as long as people are alive."" But that doesn't explain storage density. And biological DNA has mechanisms to survive in a cell but these synthetic DNA's might be standalone.
- tomatotomato37 8y ago
  One other suspect thing about that is that the DNA in a body is essentially replicated across every single cell, which means maybe that the DNA from 10,000 yeras ago has just survived as a rule of statistics over any individual durability
- leggomylibro 8y ago
  I wonder if you could make separate 'zip/unzip' stations to compress/decompress them with histone proteins, like the body does. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histone

mbreese 8y ago

Not only is DNA chemically stable and can last for years, has internal redundancy, but it is remarkably compact. DNA is an evolutionarily optimal data storage medium. To put it into context, each cell in your body contains 6 billion base pairs of data (two copies of your genome). Each base is one of 4 bits, so that’s 4^6000000000 of data in each cell. Your body has ~37 trillion cells [1]. A person is about the size of a rack (well, maybe 10-15U by volume), so that’s 3.7e13 * 4^6e9 bits per rack. A petabyte is 8e15 bits. That’s a lot of data storage capacity in a small space. Moreover, there is the potential for introducing more synthetic bases to increase the 4 to 6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/23829164/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/23829164/

dooglius 8y ago
The number of bits is the logarithm of possible cases; there are only two bits needed to describe the four bases, and only 12 billion bits needed to describe the 4^(6e9) possible configurations of data.
yread 8y ago
Moreover cell contains mostly other stuff than a nucleus so that's another factor of 10 or so. And human body has a lot of 'empty' space - lungs, stomach, veins, collagen, bones,....
hn_throwaway_99 8y ago
Minor correction: each base pair is one of 4 values (A, T, G, C), so each base pair is equivalent to 2 bits of data, which gives a number half of what you quoted.
- faissaloo 8y ago
  8 if you include artificial base pairs (P, Z, B, S)
- mbreese 8y ago
  Yes, I misworded it and gave the wrong numbers. I gave the number of possible combinations in a genome, which is 4^6e9. That’s obviously not the number to compare (and a slightly embarrassing mistake). With 6 gigabases per cell and 2bits per base, the storage capacity is 12 gigabits (1.5 gigabytes) per cell. And with 37 trillion cells (3.72e13) in a human body, that’s 3.72e13 cells * 1.5e9 bytes per cell which is 5.58e22 bytes per person or 55 zettabytes. This seems like a more reasonable number.