Methods of storing information using nucleic acids

1. A method of making a medium for information storage using nucleotides comprising

converting a format of information into a plurality of bit sequences of a bit stream,

converting the plurality of bit sequences to a plurality of corresponding oligonucleotide sequences using one bit per base encoding, and

synthesizing the plurality of corresponding oligonucleotide sequences.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing the synthesized plurality of corresponding oligonucleotide sequences.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the oligonucleotide sequences are stored on a solid or semi-solid support.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the oligonucleotide sequences are stored on a support selected from the group consisting of a slide, bead, chip, particle, strand, gel, sheet, tubing, sphere, container, capillary, pad, slice, film, and plate.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the oligonucleotide sequences include one or more or all of a data block sequence, an address sequence specifying the location of the data block in the bit stream, or flanking common sequences at each end of the oligonucleotide for amplification and sequencing.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein synthesizing the plurality of corresponding oligonucleotide sequences comprises synthesizing the plurality of corresponding oligonucleotide sequences using a template-independent polymerase.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein synthesizing the plurality of corresponding oligonucleotide sequences comprises synthesizing the plurality of corresponding oligonucleotide sequences using terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase or poly(A) polymerase.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the nucleotides are A, C, G and T and wherein the A or C encodes for a first bit and G or T encodes for a second bit.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the nucleotides are A, C, G and T and wherein the A or C encodes for zero and G or T encodes for 1.

10. A method of storing information using nucleic acids comprising

encoding a format of information into a plurality of polynucleotide sequences, and

synthesizing de novo the plurality of polynucleotide sequences on a support using a template independent polymerase.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the step of synthesizing comprises

using a cyclic pattern of dNTP solutions and the template independent polymerase to incorporate the dNTP.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the format of information is an HTML format of information.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the format of information is an HTML format of information with embedded images.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein the format of information is text or an image.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein the format of information is converted to bit sequences which are encoded into the plurality of polynucleotide sequences.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein the template independent polymerase is terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase or poly(A) polymerase.

17. The method of claim 10 wherein the support is a solid or semi-solid support.

18. The method of claim 10 wherein the support comprises spatially defined sites.

19. The method of claim 10 wherein the support comprises spatially defined addressable sites.

20. The method of claim 10 wherein the support is a member selected from the group consisting of a slide, bead, chip, particle, strand, gel, sheet, tubing, sphere, container, capillary, pad, slice, film, and plate.

21. The method of claim 10 wherein the support is a substantially planar support comprising tranches, grooves, wells or chemical barriers.

22. The method of claim 10 wherein the polynucleotide sequences are covalently attached to the support.

23. The method of claim 10 wherein the polynucleotide sequences are attached to the support with a cleavable linker.

24. The method of claim 10 where the plurality of polynucleotide sequences is synthesized on the support using ink jet techniques.

25. The method of claim 10 where the plurality of polynucleotide sequences is synthesized on the support using electrochemical.

26. The method of claim 10 where the plurality of polynucleotide sequences is synthesized on the support using microfluidic techniques.

27. The method of claim 10 wherein the polymerase function of the template independent polymerase is programmable by light.

28. The method of claim 10 wherein the base-specificity of the template independent polymerase is programmable by light.