Scientists found a way to upload data into living bacteria. Not only is the data retained and passed on to the bacteria's progeny, it's also archived sequentially, for easy reference.
The data were fed in small strings to colonies of E. coli bacteria, converting these into living, reproducing hard drives. Though the research is in its early stages, as much as 100 bytes of data could be 'written' on these colonies at a time. Roughly 100 bytes of data is required to store all the characters included in this sentence.
There's Data In The Bug
Harvard scientists led by Seth Shipman developed the process. Any type of data may be encoded in the bacteria, but only in 100-byte size pieces. Retention is one of the breakthroughs of the research, though, as it was discovered that data encoded is passed on to succeeding generations.
By exploiting the bacteria's response to virus attacks, the scientists were able to introduce strings of data into the host. Bacteria deal with viruses by breaking these down (through a process called the CRISPR/Cas system), but extracting a segment of the DNA for future reference. This updates and strengthens the bacteria's immunity, enabling generations to expel the same virus in the future.
The team introduced segments of genetic data (that mimicked viral DNA) into a colony of E. coli; these were immediately absorbed and 'archived.' The information is encoded in arrangements of the A, T, C, and G proteins, and later decrypted through genotyping.
Bugs In The Data
Popular Mechanics reports a problem with the process, though. Most of the bacteria used in the research did not absorb the string in its entirety, like fragments of a file. Shipman said this can be hurdled by the bacteria's ability to sequence data. Complete strings may also be retrieved by genotyping thousands of bacteria in the sample used.
Tree Hugger reported on the research in its earliest stages, which involved E. coli samples. Shipman maintains that 300 bytes are considered the minimum capacity, though. Microorganisms like Sulfolobus tokodaii can store up to 3000 bytes, but synthetic engineering can exponentially expand on this capacity.
