On-Chip Fluorescence Switching System for Constructing a Rewritable Random Access Data Storage Device

Sci Rep. 2018 Jan 10;8(1):337. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-16535-7.

Abstract

We report the development of on-chip fluorescence switching system based on DNA strand displacement and DNA hybridization for the construction of a rewritable and randomly accessible data storage device. In this study, the feasibility and potential effectiveness of our proposed system was evaluated with a series of wet experiments involving 40 bits (5 bytes) of data encoding a 5-charactered text (KRIBB). Also, a flexible data rewriting function was achieved by converting fluorescence signals between "ON" and "OFF" through DNA strand displacement and hybridization events. In addition, the proposed system was successfully validated on a microfluidic chip which could further facilitate the encoding and decoding process of data. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the use of DNA hybridization and DNA strand displacement in the field of data storage devices. Taken together, our results demonstrated that DNA-based fluorescence switching could be applicable to construct a rewritable and randomly accessible data storage device through controllable DNA manipulations.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • DNA / chemistry*
  • DNA / genetics*
  • DNA Replication*
  • Equipment Design
  • Information Storage and Retrieval / methods*
  • Lab-On-A-Chip Devices*
  • Nucleic Acid Hybridization* / methods
  • Oligonucleotides / chemistry
  • Oligonucleotides / genetics

Substances

  • Oligonucleotides
  • DNA