A proof-of-concept in-vivo direct DNA data recording system was demonstrated through incorporation of optogenetically regulated recombinases as part of an engineered "molecular recorder" allows for direct encoding of light-based stimuli into engineered E.coli cells. This approach can also be parallelized to store and write text or data in 8-bit form through the use of physically separated individual cell cultures in cell-culture plates.
This approach leverages the editing of a "recorder plasmid" by the light-regulated recombinases, allowing for identification of cell populations exposed to different stimuli. This approach allows for the physical stimulus to be directly encoded into the "recorder plasmid" through recombinase action. Unlike other approaches, this approach does not require manual design, insertion and cloning of artificial sequences to record the data into the genetic code. In this recording process, each individual cell population in each cell-culture plate culture well can be treated as a digital "bit", functioning as a biological transistor capable of recording a single bit of data.