You'll be amazed by how much data DNA can store (figures inside)!
Have you ever wondered how much data is stored in your body. Well, for a start, let us see how many cells an average human body has. According to [1], an average human body has 37.2 trillion cells.
Now your DNA code is contained inside each of your cell. So, the next question is, how much data is contained inside a human cell. Well, humans have 3 billion base pairs [2], with each base pair containing 4 possible combinations, meaning that the information in a base pair is equal to 2 bits. However, you get one part from each of your parents, so overall you have 6 billion base pairs. In terms of bytes, 4 base pairs would represent a byte. So, using the following formula, we see that 1.5 GB of data is stored in a human cell.
data_in_human_cell = 6 GB / 4 = 1.5 GB
Therefore, an average human body with 37.2 trillion cells would contain a mind blowing 55.8 billion terrabytes of data!
data_in_average_human = 1.5 GB * 37.2 TB = 55.8 billion TB
Why is DNA able to store data so efficiently?
Firstly, DNA molecules are very small in size. According to [1], a human cell, which contains 6 billion base pairs, has a weight of just one nanogram, with a volume of just four billionths of a cubic centimeter.
Secondly, according to [3], DNA is so much more efficient in storing data compared to typical transistors based RAMs, due to its 3D arrangement. Arranging transistors in 3D cause heating problems. That is why they are arranged in 2D.
So, do we have the required technology to use DNA for storing data?
Now you must be wondering, can we use DNA to store data? By doing so, we would be able to pack astronomical amounts of data in a small place.
image source
Well, firstly DNA is as not as good when it comes to read speed. Having said that, we have DNA sequencers available, through which we can read the data. So, due to speed, reading data from DNA would be more like reading from a Hard drive or a Tape drive.
However, the real problem at this moment is with writing data in the form DNA [4], which is extremely costly, with 12 MB of data costing around a staggering $100,000, to write! Moreover, it is also very slow, with the global DNA synthesis industry able to write just 3 human genomes worth of data (around 4.5 GB) per day.
References
[1].https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-many-cells-are-in-the-human-body
[2].https://bitesizebio.com/8378/how-much-information-is-stored-in-the-human-genome/
[3].https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/231343-how-dna-data-storage-works-as-scientists-create-the-first-dna-ram
[4].https://www.ft.com/content/45ea22b0-cec2-11e7-947e-f1ea5435bcc7
I will be featuring it in my weekly #technology curation post for the @minnowsupport project and the Creators' Guild! The is a new group of Steem tech bloggers and content creators looking to improve the overall quality of the niche.
If you wish not to be featured in the curation post this Saturday, please let me know. Keep up the hard work, and I hope to see you at the Tech Bloggers' Guild!
Thanks man for your appreciation :) Great to know that you will be featuring this in your weekly technology curation post.
This is a dope post sir🙂. DNA is basically the information storage device of our human body. But how will data be deleted when we want to free up the storage space😀?
Good question. Maybe in future when writing to DNA does become faster and cheaper, its gonna be used for write once and read many times purpose, until we develop a tech that also allows for easy modification/deletion of the data.
Thank you sir for answer🙂. DNA is our future storage device and the most important thing I noticed is that the data kept in it is durable - lasting thousands of years🙂
Upvoted ☝ Have a great day!
This post has received a 3.23% upvote from @aksdwi thanks to: @hmushtaq.