Investigating enhanced stability in CTAB(C)-compacted DNA under aging conditions for data storage

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Materials Science
• Genomics

Background:

• DNA offers high information density and longevity for data storage.
• Preserving DNA integrity over extended periods remains a significant challenge.
• Surfactant-mediated compaction and cyclodextrin-driven decompaction are explored for DNA stabilization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of surfactant-mediated compaction and cyclodextrin-driven decompaction for long-term DNA storage.
• To assess the stability of compacted natural (salmon-derived DNA) and synthetic DNA under accelerated aging conditions.
• To determine the feasibility of recovering and sequencing stored DNA for data retrieval.

Main Methods:

• Compaction of salmon-derived DNA (sDNA) and synthetic DNA (synDNA) using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC).
• Accelerated aging of compacted DNA at temperatures ranging from 4 °C to 70 °C and 50% relative humidity for 4, 8, and 12 days.
• Decompaction using 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (2HP-β-CD) followed by analysis using absorbance measurements, quantitative PCR, and Sanger sequencing.

Main Results:

• Successful recovery and sequencing of both sDNA and synDNA after accelerated aging.
• Compacted synDNA demonstrated enhanced stability compared to pristine synDNA, especially at 60 °C.
• Recovered synDNA showed high sequence identities, confirming information preservation.
• The half-lives of decompacted aged-synDNA at elevated temperatures were comparable to DNA stored in silica matrices.

Conclusions:

• Surfactant-mediated compaction and cyclodextrin-driven decompaction provide an effective strategy for long-term DNA data storage.
• The method offers advantages in simplicity and recovery rates compared to existing techniques.
• This approach shows significant potential for practical DNA-based data storage applications, ensuring data integrity and accessibility.