The new system enables to record complex histories in the DNA of human cells, helping to retrieve memories of past events such as inflammation.
Analog memory storage system will allow scientists to study how cells differentiate into various tissues during embryonic development, as well as experience environmental conditions.
It will also allow to assess how they undergo genetic changes that lead to disease.
MIT Synthetic Biology Group head Timothy Lu said: “To enable a deeper understanding of biology, we engineered human cells that are able to report on their own history based on genetically encoded recorders.
“This technology should offer insights into how gene regulation and other events within cells contribute to disease and development.”
Through using recombinases enzymes, the engineers will program cells to flip sections of their DNA when a particular event occurs such as exposure to a particular chemical
The new approach is based on the genome-editing system called CRISPR, which includes a DNA-cutting enzyme called Cas9 and a short RNA strand that guides the enzyme to a specific area of the genome, directing Cas9 where to make its cut.
CRISPR is mostly used for gene editing, while MIT team has adapted it for memory storage.
The researchers also demonstrated that they could engineer cells to detect and record more than one input by producing multiple self-targeting RNA guide strands in the same cell.
Image: MIT biological engineers have devised a memory storage system as a DNA-embedded meter that is recording the activity of a signaling pathway in a human cell. Photo: courtesy of MIR researchers.
