ZAT-DNA enables DNA data storage with molecular-layer non-replicability

Area of Science:

• Synthetic Biology
• Biotechnology
• Information Security

Background:

• Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) offers high information density and longevity for data storage.
• Easy amplification via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) enables unauthorized, low-cost replication of DNA data.
• Existing DNA data storage methods lack inherent protection against unauthorized duplication.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce ZAT-DNA, a novel DNA data storage system preventing unauthorized replication.
• To demonstrate ZAT-DNA's capability for secure storage and retrieval of cryptographic keys.
• To present a hybrid architecture for secure storage of larger datasets and access control.

Main Methods:

• Encoding information using patterns of canonical adenine and noncanonical 2-aminoadenine in ZAT-DNA.
• Utilizing the inability of DNA polymerases to distinguish between adenine and 2-aminoadenine to erase patterns during amplification.
• Validating ZAT-DNA through error-free encoding, storage, and nanopore retrieval of cryptographic keys.
• Developing a hybrid 'Babel-DNA' architecture for co-encoding encrypted data with ZAT-DNA keys.

Main Results:

• ZAT-DNA enforces molecular-layer non-replicability by erasing unique base-pairing patterns during polymerase amplification.
• Successful error-free encoding, storage, and high-fidelity nanopore retrieval of 32-bit and 64-bit cryptographic keys.
• Demonstrated prevention of polymerase-based copying for secure key storage and protection of non-fungible tokens.
• The Babel-DNA architecture enables selective decryption of multiple encrypted datasets using non-replicable ZAT-DNA keys.

Conclusions:

• ZAT-DNA provides intrinsic molecular-layer security against unauthorized replication, addressing a key limitation of DNA data storage.
• The technology is validated for secure storage of cryptographic keys and protection of digital assets like NFTs.
• The proposed Babel-DNA framework offers a practical solution for molecular access control, secure DNA databases, and scarce molecular tokens.