Heckel, ReinhardMikutis, GediminasGrass, Robert N.2019-09-172019-09-172019Heckel, Reinhard, Mikutis, Gediminas and Grass, Robert N.. "A Characterization of the DNA Data Storage Channel." <i>Scientific Reports,</i> 9, (2019) Springer Nature: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-45832-6.https://hdl.handle.net/1911/107415Owing to its longevity and enormous information density, DNA, the molecule encoding biological information, has emerged as a promising archival storage medium. However, due to technological constraints, data can only be written onto many short DNA molecules that are stored in an unordered way, and can only be read by sampling from this DNA pool. Moreover, imperfections in writing (synthesis), reading (sequencing), storage, and handling of the DNA, in particular amplification via PCR, lead to a loss of DNA molecules and induce errors within the molecules. In order to design DNA storage systems, a qualitative and quantitative understanding of the errors and the loss of molecules is crucial. In this paper, we characterize those error probabilities by analyzing data from our own experiments as well as from experiments of two different groups. We find that errors within molecules are mainly due to synthesis and sequencing, while imperfections in handling and storage lead to a significant loss of sequences. The aim of our study is to help guide the design of future DNA data storage systems by providing a quantitative and qualitative understanding of the DNA data storage channel.engThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.Journal articles41598-019-45832-6https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-45832-6