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Lights, Action, CRISPR
13 September 2017

Lights, Action, CRISPR

Right now digital files such as music and movies are stored on computer hard drives and huge servers, but one day they might be stored inside the DNA of microscopic bacteria. These images are taken from one of the earliest movies ever made - ‘Sallie Gardner at a Gallop’, also known as ‘The Horse in Motion’, created by the English photographer Eadweard Muybridge in 1878. The pictures look grainy because the image data has been converted into DNA code, inserted into bacteria using a technique called CRISPR, then retrieved and reassembled by sequencing the bacterial DNA. Although it isn’t exactly a blockbuster, this simple movie proves that DNA-based storage works for writing and reading information. The researchers hope to use similar technology to create ‘molecular movie cameras’, using living bacterial cells to monitor and record information in the environment such as pollution levels by writing the data into their DNA.

Written by Kat Arney

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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