Storage through iterative dna editing
AssigneeMicrosoft Technology Licensing, LLC
InventorKris K. Ganjam
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Information is stored in existing DNA through an iterative process of creating a break in dsDNA and adding new DNA by repairing the break with a homologous repair template. The order and sequence of DNA sequences added to the breaks in the dsDNA can encode binary data. By using a context-dependent encoding scheme, three unique homologous repair templates can encode an unbounded number of bits. When the existing DNA is in a cell, the changes are heritably passed to subsequent generations of the cell. Synthesis of the homologous repair templates may be under the control of a promoter and operator. Intra- or extra-cellular signals may regulate the synthesis of homologous repair templates.
Claims20
A method for encoding binary data in a double stranded deoxyribose nucleic acid (dsDNA), the method comprising:
- creating a first double strand break (DSB) at a first target site in the dsDNA with a first enzyme;
- selecting a first homologous repair template according to a first binary digit, the first target site, and an encoding scheme;
- and
- contacting the dsDNA with the first homologous repair template,
- wherein the first homologous repair template contains a region complementary to a second target site for a second enzyme to create a second DSB in the dsDNA and the first binary digit is encoded by an order of a partial sequence of the first target site being adjacent to a partial sequence of the second target site.
A cell capable of heritably storing binary data, the cell comprising:
- a dsDNA molecule comprising a first target site;
- a first enzyme configured to create a DSB within the first target site;
- a gene under the control of a promoter and operator that encodes a RNA sequence comprising a 3′-end sequence and a 5′-end sequence;
- a homologous repair template generated from the gene, the homologous repair template being either:
- (i) the RNA sequence, wherein the 3′-end sequence and 5′-end sequence are complementary to one strand of the dsDNA molecule over at least a part of the first target site, or
- (ii) a ssDNA sequence complementary to the RNA sequence, wherein the 3′-end sequence and the 5′-end sequence are complementary to one strand of the dsDNA molecule over at least a part of the first target site;
- and
- an engineered signaling pathway that changes a rate of transcription of the RNA sequence in response to an intracellular or extracellular signal.
A method comprising:
- creating a first DSB in a first target site in a dsDNA with a first enzyme;
- contacting the dsDNA with a first homologous repair template comprising a 3′-end sequence complementary to a first portion of the first target site and a 5′-end sequence complementary to a second portion of the first target site, wherein a portion of the first target site adjacent to a portion of dsDNA generated by repair of the first DSB encodes a first binary digit according to a first encoding scheme and a DNA sequence complementary to a middle portion of the first homologous repair template comprises a second target site according to the first encoding scheme;
- creating a second DSB in a third target site in the dsDNA with a second enzyme, the third target site having a different sequence than the first target site and being at least one base pair (bp) removed from the first target site;
- and
- contacting the dsDNA with a second homologous repair template comprising a 3′-end sequence complementary to a first portion of the third target site and a 5′-end sequence complementary to a second portion of the third target site, wherein a sequence of a portion of the third target site adjacent to a portion of the dsDNA generated by repairing the second DSB encodes a second binary digit according to a second encoding scheme and a DNA sequence complementary to a middle portion of the second homologous repair template comprises a fourth target site according to the second encoding scheme.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.