Genomic Encryption of Digital Data Stored in Synthetic DNA
Abstract
Today, we can read human genomes and store digital data robustly in synthetic DNA. Herein, we report a strategy to intertwine these two technologies to enable the secure storage of valuable information in synthetic DNA, protected with personalized keys. We show that genetic short tandem repeats (STRs) contain sufficient entropy to generate strong encryption keys, and that only one technology, DNA sequencing, is required to simultaneously read the key and the data. Using this approach, we experimentally generated 80 bit strong keys from human DNA, and used such a key to encrypt 17 kB of digital information stored in synthetic DNA. Finally, the decrypted information was recovered perfectly from a single massively parallel sequencing run.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Beyond random access, other file operations such as encryption with genomic keys, erasure on the basis of obfuscation, and rewriting by chemical modification or PCR are also supported by sequence-based DNA data storage.
“Beyond random access, other file operations such as encryption with genomic keys,79 erasure on the basis of obfuscation,80 and rewriting by chemical modification or PCR81,82 are also supported by sequence-based DNA data storage.”
From Emerging Approaches to DNA Data Storage: Challenges and Prospects (2022) · cites this paper as [79]
Cites
Irreversibility and heat generation in the computing process
Landauer, R. (1961) · IBM Journal of Research and Development · doi:10.1147/rd.53.0183 · Cited by 4,980 · see citing works
Hypervariable ‘minisatellite’ regions in human DNA
Jeffreys, A. J., Wilson, V., & Thein, S. L. (1985) · Nature · doi:10.1038/314067a0 · Cited by 3,771 · see citing works
Password authentication with insecure communication
Lamport, L. (1981) · Communications of the ACM · doi:10.1145/358790.358797 · Cited by 2,789 · see citing works
Hypervariability of simple sequences as a general source for polymorphic DNA markers
Tautz, D. (1989) · Nucleic Acids Research · doi:10.1093/nar/17.16.6463 · Cited by 2,317 · see citing works
Next-Generation Digital Information Storage in DNA
Church, G. M., Gao, Y., & Kosuri, S. (2012) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1226355 · Cited by 1,441 · see citing works
Towards Practical, High-Capacity, Low-Maintenance Information Storage in Synthesized DNA
Goldman, N., Bertone, P., Chen, S., Dessimoz, C., LeProust, E. M., Sipos, B., & Birney, E. (2013) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature11875 · Cited by 1,220 · see citing works
Self-citationDNA typing and genetic mapping with trimeric and tetrameric tandem repeats.
Edwards, A., Civitello, A. B., Hammond, H. A., & Caskey, C. T. (1991) · Europe PMC (PubMed Central) · Cited by 1,143 · see citing works
Current trends in microsatellite genotyping
Guichoux, E., Lagache, L., Wagner, S., Chaumeil, P., Léger, P., Lepais, O., Lepoittevin, C., Malausa, T., Revardel, E., Salin, F., et al. (2011) · Molecular Ecology Resources · doi:10.1111/j.1755-0998.2011.03014.x · Cited by 943 · see citing works
DNA Fountain enables a robust and efficient storage architecture
Erlich, Y., & Zielinski, D. (2017) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aaj2038 · Cited by 898 · see citing works
Random access in large-scale DNA data storage
Organick, L., Ang, S. D., Chen, Y.-J., Lopez, R., Yekhanin, S., Makarychev, K., Racz, M. Z., Kamath, G., Gopalan, P., Nguyen, B., et al. (2018) · Nature Biotechnology · doi:10.1038/nbt.4079 · Cited by 775 · see citing works
Robust Chemical Preservation of Digital Information on DNA in Silica with Error-Correcting Codes
Grass, R. N., Heckel, R., Puddu, M., Paunescu, D., & Stark, W. J. (2015) · Angewandte Chemie International Edition · doi:10.1002/anie.201411378 · Cited by 754 · see citing works
Self-citationNext generation sequencing and its applications in forensic genetics
Børsting, C., & Morling, N. (2015) · Forensic Science International: Genetics · doi:10.1016/j.fsigen.2015.02.002 · Cited by 460 · see citing works
Automated DNA profiling employing multiplex amplification of short tandem repeat loci.Preprint
Kimpton, C. P., Gill, P., Walton, A., Urquhart, A., Millican, E. S., & Adams, M. (1993) · Genome Research · doi:10.1101/gr.3.1.13 · Cited by 395 · see citing works
Forward Error Correction for DNA Data Storage
Blawat, M., Gaedke, K., Hütter, I., Chen, X.-M., Turczyk, B., Inverso, S., Pruitt, B. W., & Church, G. M. (2016) · Procedia Computer Science · doi:10.1016/j.procs.2016.05.398 · Cited by 333 · see citing works
The future of forensic DNA analysis
Butler, J. M. (2015) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2014.0252 · Cited by 241 · see citing works
CODIS STR Loci Data from 41 Sample Populations
Budowle, B., Shea, B., Niezgoda, S., & Chakraborty, R. (2001) · Journal of Forensic Sciences · doi:10.1520/jfs14996j · Cited by 226 · see citing works
Nucleic acids from long-term preserved FFPE tissues are suitable for downstream analyses
Ludyga, N., Grünwald, B. T., Azimzadeh, O., Englert, S., Höfler, H., Tapio, S., & Aubele, M. M. (2012) · Archiv für Pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und für Klinische Medicin · doi:10.1007/s00428-011-1184-9 · Cited by 206 · see citing works
U.S. population data for 29 autosomal STR loci
Hill, C. R., Duewer, D. L., Kline, M. C., Coble, M. D., & Butler, J. M. (2013) · Forensic Science International Genetics · doi:10.1016/j.fsigen.2012.12.004 · Cited by 165 · see citing works
Sequence variation of 22 autosomal STR loci detected by next generation sequencing
Gettings, K. B., Kiesler, K. M., Faith, S. A., Montano, E., Baker, C. H., Young, B. A., Guerrieri, R. A., & Vallone, P. M. (2015) · Forensic Science International Genetics · doi:10.1016/j.fsigen.2015.11.005 · Cited by 165 · see citing works
Lazaruk, K. D., Walsh, P. S., Oaks, F. L., Gilbert, D. A., Rosenblum, B. B., Menchen, S., Scheibler, D., Wenz, H. M., Holt, C. L., & Wallin, J. M. (1998) · Electrophoresis · doi:10.1002/elps.1150190116 · Cited by 155 · see citing works
Characterising stutter in forensic STR multiplexes
Brookes, C., Bright, J.-A., Harbison, S., & Buckleton, J. (2012) · Forensic Science International Genetics · doi:10.1016/j.fsigen.2011.02.001 · Cited by 145 · see citing works
Anchordoquy, T. J., & Molina, M. C. (2007) · Cell Preservation Technology · doi:10.1089/cpt.2007.0511 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
Salceda, S., Barican, A., Buscaino, J., Goldman, B., Klevenberg, J., Kuhn, M., Lehto, D., Lin, F., Nguyen, P., Park, C., et al. (2017) · Forensic Science International Genetics · doi:10.1016/j.fsigen.2017.01.005 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
Steffen, C. R., Coble, M. D., Gettings, K. B., & Vallone, P. M. (2017) · Forensic Science International Genetics · doi:10.1016/j.fsigen.2017.08.011 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
DNA Degradation Test Predicts Success in Whole-Genome Amplification from Diverse Clinical Samples
Wang, F., Wang, L., Briggs, C. E., Sicińska, E., Gaston, S. M., Mamon, H. J., Kulke, M. H., Zamponi, R., Loda, M. F., Maher, E. A., et al. (2007) · Journal of Molecular Diagnostics · doi:10.2353/jmoldx.2007.070004 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Development of Biometric DNA Ink for Authentication Security
Hashiyada, M. (2004) · The Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine · doi:10.1620/tjem.204.109 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Kim, E. H., Lee, H. Y., Yang, I. S., Jung, S.-E., Yang, W. I., & Shin, K. (2016) · Forensic Science International Genetics · doi:10.1016/j.fsigen.2016.01.001 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Evaluation of the Early Access STR Kit v1 on the Ion Torrent PGM™ platform
Guo, F., Zhou, Y., Liu, F., Yu, J., He, S., Shen, H., Zhao, B., Jia, F., Hou, G., & Jiang, X. (2016) · Forensic Science International Genetics · doi:10.1016/j.fsigen.2016.04.004 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Rapid re-identification of human samples using portable DNA sequencing
Zaaijer, S., Gordon, A., Speyer, D., Piccone, R., Groen, S. C., & Erlich, Y. (2017) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.27798 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Improved Single-Key Attacks on 8-Round AES-192 and AES-256
Dunkelman, O., Keller, N., & Shamir, A. (2013) · Journal of Cryptology · doi:10.1007/s00145-013-9159-4 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Commentary on Alan M. Turing: The Applications of Probability to Cryptography
Zabell, S. L. (2012) · Cryptologia · doi:10.1080/01611194.2012.697811 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Montano, E., Bush, J. M., Garver, A. M., Larijani, M. M., Wiechman, S. M., Baker, C. H., Wilson, M. R., Guerrieri, R. A., Benzinger, E., Gehres, D. N., et al. (2017) · Forensic Science International Genetics · doi:10.1016/j.fsigen.2017.10.002 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Xi, K., & Hu, J. (2010) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-04117-4_7 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Grass, R. N., Heckel, R., Puddu, M., Păunescu, D., & Stark, W. J. (2015) · Angewandte Chemie · doi:10.1002/ange.201411378 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Self-citationConsiderations for New Public-Key Algorithms
Kaliski, B. (2000) · Network Security · doi:10.1016/s1353-4858(00)09025-5 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Recent progress in non-native nucleic acid modifications
McKenzie, L. K., El-Khoury, R., Thorpe, J. D., Damha, M. J., & Hollenstein, M. (2021) · Chemical Society Reviews · doi:10.1039/d0cs01430c · Cited by 300 · see citing works
Emerging Approaches to DNA Data Storage: Challenges and Prospects
Doricchi, A., Platnich, C. M., Gimpel, A., Horn, F., Earle, M., Lanzavecchia, G., Cortajarena, A. L., Liz-Marzán, L. M., Liu, N., Heckel, R., et al. (2022) · ACS Nano · doi:10.1021/acsnano.2c06748 · Cited by 235 · see citing works
Self-citationHao, Y., Li, Q., Fan, C., & Wang, F. (2021) · Small Structures · doi:10.1002/sstr.202000046 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
Minimum Free Energy Coding for DNA Storage
Cao, B., Zhang, X., Wu, J., Wang, B., Zhang, Q., & Wei, X. (2021) · IEEE Transactions on NanoBioscience · doi:10.1109/tnb.2021.3056351 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
The current science of sequence-defined macromolecules
Hakobyan, K., Noble, B. B., & Xu, J. (2023) · Progress in Polymer Science · doi:10.1016/j.progpolymsci.2023.101754 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Design of Constraint Coding Sets for Archive DNA Storage
Yin, Q., Zheng, Y., Wang, B., & Zhang, Q. (2021) · IEEE Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics · doi:10.1109/tcbb.2021.3127271 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Preservation and Encryption in DNA Digital Data Storage
Zhang, Y., Ren, Y., Liu, Y., Wang, F., Zhang, H., & Liu, K. (2022) · ChemPlusChem · doi:10.1002/cplu.202200183 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Efficient data reconstruction: The bottleneck of large-scale application of DNA storage
Cao, B., Zheng, Y., Shao, Q., Liu, Z., Xie, L., Zhao, Y., Wang, B., Zhang, Q., & Wei, X. (2024) · Cell Reports · doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2024.113699 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
CRISPR-powered quantitative keyword search engine in DNA data storage
Zhang, J., Hou, C., & Liu, C. (2024) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-024-46767-x · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Chu, L., Su, Y., Yao, X., Xu, P., & Liu, W. (2024) · Intelligent Computing · doi:10.34133/icomputing.0106 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
The challenges of controlling polymer synthesis at the molecular and macromolecular level
Hakobyan, K., Xu, J.-T., & Müllner, M. (2022) · Polymer Chemistry · doi:10.1039/d1py01581h · Cited by 9 · see citing works
DNA storage: The future direction for medical cold data storage
Shen, P., Zheng, Y., Zhang, C., Li, S., Chen, Y., Chen, Y., Liu, Y., & Cai, Z. (2025) · Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology · doi:10.1016/j.synbio.2025.03.006 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Storage‐D: A user‐friendly platform that enables practical and personalized DNA data storage
Huang, X., Cui, J., Qiang, W., Ye, J., Wang, Y., Xie, X., Li, Y., & Dai, J. (2024) · iMeta · doi:10.1002/imt2.168 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Random Sanitization in DNA Information Storage Using CRISPR-Cas12a
Shen, H., Weng, Z., Zhao, H., Song, H., Wang, F., Fan, C., & Song, P. (2024) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/jacs.4c11380 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Towards next-generation DNA encryption via an expanded genetic system
Huang, X., Hou, Z., Qiang, W., Wang, H., Wang, X., Chen, X., Hu, X., Dai, J., Li, L., & Zhao, G. (2024) · National Science Review · doi:10.1093/nsr/nwae469 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Luo, H., Huang, W. L., He, Z., Fang, Y., Tian, Y., & Xiong, Z. (2025) · Advanced Materials · doi:10.1002/adma.202415358 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Encoding of non-biological information for its long-term storage in DNA
Гарафутдинов, Р. Р., Chemeris, D. A., Sakhabutdinova, A. R., Kiryanova, O. Y., Mikhaylenko, C. I., & Chemeris, A. V. (2022) · Biosystems · doi:10.1016/j.biosystems.2022.104664 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Time‐Controlled Authentication Strategies for Molecular Information Transfer
Hu, M., Yang, M., Cheng, X., & Wu, T. (2024) · Small · doi:10.1002/smll.202400261 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Data Readout Techniques for DNA‐Based Information Storage
Liu, B., Wang, F., Fan, C., & Li, Q. (2025) · Advanced Materials · doi:10.1002/adma.202412926 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Gao, R., Wei, X.-S., Chen, Z., Xie, A., & Dong, W. (2023) · ACS Nano · doi:10.1021/acsnano.3c04777 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Cao, B., Li, X., Wang, B., He, T., Zheng, Y., Zhang, X., & Zhang, Q. (2025) · Patterns · doi:10.1016/j.patter.2025.101288 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
A DNA origami framework cryptosystem with nanoconfinement control of fluorescence logic permutations
Hou, X., Zhang, Y., Liu, Y., Xia, Q., Zhang, Y., Wang, J., Li, J., Wang, F., Wang, L., Liu, H., et al. (2025) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.aea7518 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Combinatorial constraint coding based on the EORS algorithm in DNA storage
Xiaoru, L., & Ling, G. (2021) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0255376 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
A Programmed DNA Dynamic Assembly‐Guided Molecular Amplifier for Authentic Information Decryption
Yang, N., Zhou, J. N., Yuan, F., Liu, Y., Zhang, J., Zhuo, Y., Ouyang, Y., Chai, Y., Zhang, P., & Yuan, R. (2025) · Advanced Science · doi:10.1002/advs.202409586 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Cao, B., Li, X., Wang, B., He, T., Zheng, Y., Zhang, X., & Zhang, Q. (2024) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2024.08.15.608111 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Medisecure: a hybrid approach for enhancing multimedia data protection in healthcare
Dash, S., Padhy, S. K., Kumar, N., & Nayyar, A. (2026) · Cluster Computing · doi:10.1007/s10586-025-05844-6 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Directly Encrypting DNA Sequences for Secure DNA Storage via Automata Cryptography
Kang, J., Sun, L., Liu, X., Yang, Z., Wang, B. G., Zhou, S., Cao, B., & Zheng, P. (2026) · IEEE Transactions on NanoBioscience · doi:10.1109/tnb.2026.3695368 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Parallel DNA Synthesis to Produce Multi-Usage Two-Dimensional Barcodes
Parlar, E., & Lietard, J. (2024) · Applied Sciences · doi:10.3390/app142411663 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
A Bitcoin Research Agenda: 100 Critical Information Gaps for Policy and Practice, 2024 editionPreprint
Rudd, M. A. (2025) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.5359261
A Hybridization-Based Novel DNA Storage Technology with Rapid Read PerformancePreprint
Zhang, Y., Jia, L., XiaoXia, W. A. N. G., Shi, Y., Wang, H., Zhang, D., Cheng, P., Zhao, Y., Xu, M., Zhang, X., et al. (2025) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.64898/2025.12.24.696143
Bio-inspired approaches to in vivo DNA data storage systems
Zhang, Y., Liu, Y., Wan, S., Su, J., Zhang, H., Wang, F., & Liu, K. (2026) · Materials Horizons · doi:10.1039/d6mh00728g
Santos, M. D. L., Lynn, C., & Jhing, V. (2026) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-10020713/v1
A multiple-encrypted DNA device for secure communication
Wang, J., Gao, R., Zhang, J., Wang, H., Luo, Z., Fan, C., Chao, J., & Wang, L. (2026) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.aef9101
CRISPR-Cas12a-based querying of DNA-stored MRI and PET imaging data
Fu, R., Hong, J., Qu, Q., Hong, Z., Jiang, Q., & Xianyu, Y. (2026) · Medical Image Analysis · doi:10.1016/j.media.2026.104272
Towards A System Model for DNA-based Storage
Schustermann, S., Kogan, L., Factor, M., Naor, D., & Yadgar, G. (2026) · ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Storage and File Systems (HotStorage) · doi:10.1145/3837053.3837346
- Authors
- Grass, R. N., Heckel, R., Dessimoz, C., & Stark, W. J.
- Affiliations
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- Technical University of Munich (DE)
- SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Grass, Robert N.
- Venue
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2020-03-20
- Volume
- 59
- Issue
- 22
- Pages
- 8476-8480
- ISSN
- 1433-7851 (ISSN-L)
- 1521-3773
- OpenAlex
- W3008328520
- Cited by
- 34
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 4
- FWCI
- 0.81
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- IRIS (submittedVersion)
- mediaTUM (Technical University of Munich) (submittedVersion)
- SERVAL (Université de Lausanne) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (183723)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › DNA and Biological Computing
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Cryptography and Data Security
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Advanced biosensing and bioanalysis techniques
- Keywords
- DNA data storage, synthetic DNA, microsatellite markers, encryption keys, key entropy, DNA sequencing, digital data security
- MeSH terms
- DNA, Humans, Information Storage and Retrieval, Computer Security, Microsatellite Repeats, Genomics, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
