A DNA-based memory with in vitro learning and associative recall

Abstract

A DNA-based memory was implemented with in vitro learning and associative recall.The learning protocol stored the sequences to which it was exposed, and memories were recalled by sequence content through DNA-to-DNA template annealing reactions. Experiments demonstrated that biological DNA could be learned, that sequences similar to the training DNA were recalled correctly, and that unlike sequences were differentiated. Theoretically, the memory has a pattern separation capability that is very large, and can learn long DNA sequences. The learning and recall protocols are massively parallel, as well as simple, inexpensive, and quick. The memory has several potential applications in detection and classification of biological sequences, as well as a massive storage capacity for non-biological data.