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norbertus t1_j0zlx0c wrote

> genetically modified plants could be used to store data

A lot of this comes down to applications of CRISPR, which is a bacterial immune system component that scientists have been using for the past 10+ years as way to "copy and paste" genes.

The "CRISPR array" is a portion of the genome that can be used to store arbitrary genetic sequences. Bacteria use the "CRISPR array" to store fragments of viral DNA for the immune system.

CRISPR has been modified, however, allowing us to store arbitrary data like videos inside a living cell's DNA

https://www.statnews.com/2017/07/12/crispr-bacteria-video-harvard-wyss/

and CRISPR has been used to implement digital-stye logic gates inside living cells:

https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms1516

These devices have been used in conjunction to coerce cells into recording -- into CRISPR -- information about their own internal activities, such as how many times a cell has undergone mitosis

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6492567/

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