E. Coli, a Terabyte Hard Drive of the Future?

Although E. coli has a negative reputation due to the violent illness it can induce, the students of Chinese University in Hong Kong found a good use for the bacteria: data storage. The team was able to devise a way to encrypt and store data inside the E. coli’s DNA. According to the students, one gram of the bacteria can store the same amount of data as 450 two-terabyte hard drives. The idea of bio-storage has been around for about a decade. But earlier attempts of encoding data into DNA have been incremental and was unable to push forward.

Theoretically, bacterial bio-storage should hold a hefty amount of data in very small spaces. More over, the capabilities of bacteria to replicate could mean a millennia of reliable data storage. Still, it does not end there. The students at Chinese University are looking for ways to encode extra information into genetically modified organisms like crops to create “bio bar code”.

Imagine your CPU with E. coli for a hard drive. How would it looks like? Share your opinions by leaving a comment.

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