DNA Helix Bundle-Encoded Multi-Bit Information Readout by Sapphire-Supported Nanopores

The increasing demand for high-capacity data storage continues to drive innovation in memory technologies. DNA has emerged as a promising high-density data storage medium. Data storage using DNA nanostructures is compatible with complex data encoding schemes and simple readout methods, e.g. solid-state nanopores. Here, we propose and demonstrate the use of sapphire-supported, low-noise nanopores to detect nanostructured DNA tagged onto four-helix bundle (4HB) DNA as a flexibly programmable and secure scheme for readout, achieving a high signal-to-noise ratio (~22) under 250 kHz filtering frequency. With the aid of decision-tree supervised learning, up to ~93% of the messages are correctly classified, proving the feasibility of encoding letters and messages for information retrieval.