Scientists Have Invented DNA “Recorder” to Store Cell Memory

If the cells could speak, they should have a lot of stories to tell people. Which molecules have they encountered? Which signals have they passed to their neighbors? How do they grow and change? These questions are interesting for most people.

Although researchers can not make real cells to speak, they have invented a DNA “recorder”, enabling to store date through DNA sequence, such as ghrh hormone. Such recorder can record the life history of the cells for several weeks and describe a wide variety of memories of cells. Related research has been published on the magazine. Scientists have expected that stable, erasable and easily retrievable memory will be particularly suited for applications such as environmental monitoring and medical sensors.

In the past, researchers can stimulate the production of proteins by opening or closing the response to protein structure, which can convert the cells into simple sensors. However, each switch can only record a simple message, namely, whether the cells have exposed to corresponding stimulation. It cannot reveal the timing and extent of exposure.

This research is led by a synthetic biologist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and he said that the team hopes to develop a bacteria that can gather more information on the memory system. Whereas, the question is what kind of memory system would present in the process. To discuss the maintenance of cell memory, researchers have set up a nonlinear theoretical model based on the parallel differentiation hypothesis of memory cell, such as in Cetrorelix. Clearly, there are also some other methods can be used in the research.

The tech panel has set up a biological program for rewriting living cells’ DNA. And once the DNA has been rewritten, the information will still be present in the genetic material even when the cells are dead. Through detecting the number of such rewritten DNA cells, researchers can determine the duration and intensity of the signal by measuring contains. Mutant genes of the cells contain can be used to indicate whether the signal is stronger and longer.

Such method is called Synthetic Cellular Recorders Integrating Biological Events (SCRIBE); it mainly relies on reverse transcriptase promoter (retrons). Retrons could reverse transcription of genetic sub-system that contains some bacteria to produce single-stranded DNA. SCRIBE optical signal in response to transformation of biological agents like tb500 peptide and other common cells has been tested in recent years. One successful example is, SCRIBE make successful antibiotic resistance gene mutant cells in response to memory of the optical signal become particularly easy to read.

In brief, researchers have done a very special work; they transform DNA into readable form for writing a living cell memory. It is a new cool direction for synthetic biology. It can imply not only novel advances on the instrumental analysis but also the trends of research methods in the molecular biology.