Gif and image written into the DNA of bacteria

bbc ^ | Paul Rincon

[BenLurkin]

An image and short film has been encoded in DNA, using the units of inheritance as a medium for storing information.

Using a genome editing tool known as Crispr, US scientists inserted a gif - five frames of a horse galloping - into the DNA of bacteria.

Then the team sequenced the bacterial DNA to retrieve the gif and the image, verifying that the microbes had indeed incorporated the data as intended.

In order to insert this information into the genomes of bacteria, the researchers transferred the image and the movie onto nucleotides (building blocks of DNA), producing a code that related to the individual pixels of each image.

The researchers then employed the Crispr platform, in which two proteins are used to insert genetic code into the DNA of target cells - in this case, those of E.coli bacteria.

For the gif, sequences were delivered frame-by-frame over five days to the bacterial cells.

The data were spread across the genomes of multiple bacteria, rather than just one, explained co-author Seth Shipman, from Harvard University in Massachusetts.

"The information is not contained in a single cell, so each individual cell may only see certain bits or pieces of the movie. So what we had to do was reconstruct the whole movie from the different pieces," Dr Shipman told the BBC.

...

To "read" the information back, the researchers sequenced the bacterial DNA and used custom computer code to unscramble the genetic information, which spits out the images.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Bzzt. Good guess. See #17 above.

[RegulatorCountry]

Countdown to somebody throwing a self-righteous fit over the stereotypical lawn jockey riding that horse in 3, 2, 1...

[T-Bone Texan]

....And if they are selling stacks of wax, it’s vinyl marketing.

[Inyo-Mono]

Thanks for posting that!

[American in Israel]

What a wonderful way to create a new Ebola..

[a fool in paradise]

So cool they encoded five frames of a horse galloping. Who understands the homage they are making?

Sex In The City?

#MrEdAtePeanutButter

[a fool in paradise]

That’s Ebola(TM). Our lawyers will...

[ProtectOurFreedom]

LOL!

[minnesota_bound]

Star Trek, The Next Generation did an episode like this.
An alien appeared using a tricoder from fragments of DNA gathered from several planets and said basically nothing. Something useful like go here (to many planets) where we have archived all of our information such as medical and scientific knowledge but nope they just blabbered.