Encoding information into polymers

If a conservative estimate of 1 bit/nucleotide of encoded data is assumed, each terabyte of digital data would cost 800 million USD on average.

“Thus, if a conservative estimate of 1 bit/nucleotide of encoded data is assumed, each terabyte of digital data would cost 800 million USD, on average.12,97”

DNA storage systems' maintenance costs are expected to be lower than those of silicon devices in contemporary data centers.

“In fact, DNA storage systems’ maintenance costs are expected to be lower than the ones of silicon devices in contemporary data centers.”

DNA data storage systems have been proposed for long-term archival purposes that need infrequent reading.

“For these reasons, DNA data storage systems have been proposed for long-term archival purposes97 that need infrequent reading,”

The reading speed of DNA data storage is much lower than standard silicon-based storage media.

“For example, the reading speed is much lower than standard silicon-based storage media.”

Optimized error-correcting codes could lower the cost of DNA data storage by increasing the overall efficiency of the storage process by means of accuracy reduction.

“For example, optimized error-correcting codes could lower the cost97,14 by increasing the overall efficiency of the storage process by means of accuracy reduction.12”

This is another pivotal reason for investigations about synthetic polymers as data storage tools, together with the mentioned high cost of DNA.

“This is another pivotal reason for the investigations about synthetic polymers as data storage tools, together with the mentioned high cost of DNA.”

Synthetic polymers could be prepared using a set of monomers with a wider set of codes, expanding the alphabet for data encoding.

“Although alternative DNA bases have been introduced, synthetic polymers could be prepared using a set of monomers with a wider set of codes which expands the alphabet for data encoding.97”

Long-term archival storage operates over long time scales-decades, centuries, and possibly millennia-and requires only infrequent access, which substantially reduces the impact of reading costs and long read times associated with DNA data storage.

“Considering that long-term, archival storage97 operates over long time scales—decades, centuries, and possibly millennia—this application requires only infrequent access to the stored information, which substantially reduces the impact of reading costs and long read times associated with DNA data storage.”