Painting with DNA art reproduces photos in high resolution and 16 million colors

Amazing stuff! DNA as data storage?

"... The researchers then got to work painting with this DNA palette. They used a technique called maskless array synthesis (MAS), which allows them to synthesize hundreds of thousands of DNA sequences at once and determine which color to place on each “pixel” of the canvas. In doing so, they were able to reproduce digital images onto a canvas about the size of a fingernail, with 24-bit color depth at a resolution of 1024 x 768. The team says it should be possible to scale the process up to Full HD and even 4K eventually. ..."

From the abstract:

"Nucleic acid microarray photolithography combines density, throughput, and positional control in DNA synthesis. These surface-bound sequence libraries are conventionally used in large-scale hybridization assays against fluorescently labeled, perfect-match DNA strands. Here, we introduce another layer of control for in situ microarray synthesis─hybridization affinity─to precisely modulate fluorescence intensity upon duplex formation. Using a combination of Cy3-, Cy5-, and fluorescein-labeled targets and an ensemble of truncated DNA probes, we organize 256 shades of red, green, and blue intensities that can be superimposed and merged. In so doing, hybridization alone is able to produce a large palette of 16 million colors or 24-bit color depth. Digital images can be reproduced with high fidelity at the micrometer scale by using a simple process that assigns sequence to any RGB value. Largely automated, this approach can be seen as miniaturized DNA-based painting."

DNA art reproduces photos in high resolution and 16 million colors Scientists have developed a way to “paint” with DNA, creating 16 million colors to accurately reproduce digital images with 24-bit color depth. The resulting images are incredible, and represent not just a new art form but potential advances for storing data on DNA.

Art with DNA – Digitally creating 16 million colors by chemistry The DNA double helix is composed of two DNA molecules whose sequences are complementary to each other. The stability of the duplex can be fine-tuned in the lab by controlling the amount and location of imperfect complementary sequences. Fluorescent markers bound to one of the matching DNA strands make the duplex visible, and fluorescence intensity increases with increasing duplex stability. Now, researchers at the University of Vienna succeeded in creating fluorescent duplexes that can generate any of 16 million colors – a work that surpasses the previous 256 colors limitation. This very large palette can be used to "paint" with DNA and to accurately reproduce any digital image on a miniature 2D surface with 24-bit color depth. ...

A Canvas of Spatially Arranged DNA Strands that Can Produce 24-bit Color Depth (open access)

Figure 3. Reproduction process of a 24-bit color digital input into a DNA microarray of equal color depth.

DNA shapes itself to execute new functions as lettuce

Amazing stuff! It is all about atomic-scale lettuce! 😊

"DNA can mimic protein functions by folding into elaborate, three-dimensional structures ...
the researchers used high-resolution imaging techniques to reveal the novel and complex structure of a DNA molecule they created that mimics the activity of a protein called green fluorescent protein (GFP). ...
The findings advance the science of how DNA can be made to fold into complex shapes, and will help researchers build such DNA molecules for a variety of laboratory and clinical applications. ...
Last year, ... discovering one such molecule: a single-stranded DNA that folds in a way that allows it to mimic the activity of GFP. The DNA molecule – which ... dubbed “lettuce” for the color of its fluorescent emissions – works by binding to another small organic molecule, a potentially fluorescent “fluorophore” similar to the one at the heart of GFP, and squeezing it in a way that activates its ability to fluoresce. The researchers demonstrated the lettuce-fluorophore combination as a fluorescent tag for the rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. ..."

From the abstract:

"Numerous studies have shown how RNA molecules can adopt elaborate three-dimensional (3D) architectures. By contrast, whether DNA can self-assemble into complex 3D folds capable of sophisticated biochemistry, independent of protein or RNA partners, has remained mysterious. Lettuce is an in vitro-evolved DNA molecule that binds and activates conditional fluorophores derived from GFP. To extend previous structural studies of fluorogenic RNAs, GFP and other fluorescent proteins to DNA, we characterize Lettuce–fluorophore complexes by X-ray crystallography and cryogenic electron microscopy. The results reveal that the 53-nucleotide DNA adopts a four-way junction (4WJ) fold. Instead of the canonical L-shaped or H-shaped structures commonly seen in 4WJ RNAs, the four stems of Lettuce form two coaxial stacks that pack co-linearly to form a central G-quadruplex in which the fluorophore binds. This fold is stabilized by stacking, extensive nucleobase hydrogen bonding—including through unusual diagonally stacked bases that bridge successive tiers of the main coaxial stacks of the DNA—and coordination of monovalent and divalent cations. Overall, the structure is more compact than many RNAs of comparable size. Lettuce demonstrates how DNA can form elaborate 3D structures without using RNA-like tertiary interactions and suggests that new principles of nucleic acid organization will be forthcoming from the analysis of complex DNAs."

DNA shapes itself to execute new functions | Cornell Chronicle

Intricate 3D architecture of a DNA mimic of GFP (no public access)

About the Noncoding RNA Regulators of the Brain

Very recommendable! A long overview article.

"... Research into how RNAs function in the brain has progressed more slowly than the study of protein function, however. For one thing, RNA is less stable than both DNA and the proteins they encode, and many RNAs are only expressed at low levels in specific tissues or cells, making them difficult to detect. ...
But now, cutting-edge sequencing technologies are giving researchers unprecedented insights into cells, allowing RNA studies to be conducted on the spatial and temporal scales needed for the discipline to begin to catch up to protein biology. And findings from this work are pointing to an inevitable conclusion: RNAs rule the brain. ...
studying miRNAs [micro RNA] phylogenetically, looking for how changes in miRNA inventories map to evolutionary transitions. In addition to finding that miRNA repertoires tend to increase in the genomes of different animal groups over evolutionary time, the team discovered that “there are certain places in evolution where you just had inordinate numbers [of miRNAs] added to a genome,” ... “And these just happened to coincide with places on the tree where you get these big, obvious jumps in complexity.” This includes a burst of 179 miRNA genes that appeared in the primate lineage after it split from mice. ...
Noncoding RNA may be a bit of a misnomer. At least some lncRNAs, circRNAs, and transcripts of other so-called noncoding genomic regions do, in fact, contain open reading frames that code for micropeptides. ..."

The Noncoding Regulators of the Brain | TS Digest | The Scientist Noncoding RNAs are proving to be critical players in the evolution of brain anatomy and cognitive complexity.