Electric field-guided random-access DNA data storage

DNA offers the promise of high-density, long-term storage, yet current systems face limitations due to polymerase chain reaction-based manual workflows that are inherently slow, error prone, and difficult to scale for practical applications. Here, we present an electric field-guided DNA pool elongation system that addresses these challenges through molecular data control. Our electric field-driven DNA memory chip integrates immobilization for encoding with reusable synthesis access capabilities. Electric field-driven primer access and DNA synthesis were evaluated through position-specific primer hybridization combined with elongation at room temperature, maintaining high fidelity while dramatically reducing access times. This electric field-driven approach exhibited linear degradation, projected to exceed 10⁵ reuse cycles. Using this method with a common primer, we successfully stored and retrieved different DNA pools, enabling one-step next-generation sequencing library preparation. We further retrieved a 0.2-megabyte three-dimensional object encoded in 1339 unique strands, achieving 96.6% perfect matching. The system demonstrates chip-level capacities approaching 1.1 × 10⁹ molecules per electrode, representing a significant advancement toward practical, scalable DNA data storage.