Natural Science

Vol.1, No.3, 181-184 (2009)

doi:10.4236/ns.2009.13023

Hiding data in DNA of living organisms

Shu-Hong Jiao1, Robert Goutte2
1

Information and Telecom Department, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, China

Universite De Lyon , Lab Creatis Lrmn, INSA Lyon, France; [email protected]

Received 12 June 2009; revised 16 July 2009; accepted 18 July 2009.

ABSTRACT

2. THE GENETIC CODE

Recent research has considered DNA an interesting medium for long-term and ultra compact
information storage and a stegomedium for hidden messages. Artificial components of DNA
with encoded information can be added to the
genome of living organisms, such as common
bacteria. With this approach, a medium for very
height densities information storage, watermarks for protection patents of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and secure public
keys for decrypting hidden information in steganocryptography, can be obtained. In this paper,
we have selected a Bacillus subtilis gene (tatAD)
and use the specific properties of silent mutations to obtain a biologically innocuous product.
An adapted code for the message insertion in
this gene is proposed.

The genetic code is the biochemical basis of heredity and

nearly universal in all organisms (eukaryotes or prokaryotes): humans, animals, plants, bacteria and viruses.
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is a long molecule,
with two strands rolled up in a double helix. Each strand
is formed by sugar phosphate backbone, connected with
single molecules called bases, which contain carbon, nitrogen and cyclical structures. The four bases are known
as adenine A, thymine T, guanine G and cytosine C.Any
strand of DNA adheres to its complementary strand, in
which T substitute for A, G for C, and vice versa. The
links between pairs of bases are responsible for binding
together two stands together to form the double helix.
The genetic information in DNA is found in the
ordered sequence of these four bases (the double helix
structure of DNA introduces redundant information,
resulting in complementary nitrogenous base links).
Unlike DNA, RNA (ribonucleic acid) is a single
stranded molecule and does not form of double helix.
The bases are the same that DNA, except U (uracil),
which replaces T. The complementarily becomes:

Keywords: DNA; Genome; Coding; Steganography;

Living Organism

1. INTRODUCTION
There has been growing interest in using DNA to store
information, one the main reasons being the very high
storage densities that can be achieved. The durability
of DNA would make it particularly useful for preserving
archival material over extensive periods of time (longterm storage). Message DNA has been used in computations in biologic mathematics, in steganography and as a
mean of short-term trademarks. These different fields
use the specific properties of genetic code and the possibilities to encode artificial information.
However, the artificial introduction of a new gene or the
modification of an existing gene in the DNA of a living
organism, can involve prejudicial deterioration of the behavior and the reproduction of this species. The solution suggested must thus notably allow a great computer security,
but also the genetic consequences of their implementation.

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U A and G C
Messenger RNA (mRNA) carries all the genetic information to ribosome for proteins synthesis by the cell.
A codon is a triplet of three bases (T,C,A and G). With
these four letters, 4364 combinations are possible. With
three exceptions, each codon encode for one of the 20
amino acids, used in the proteins synthesis (the three exceptions are TAA, TAG and TGA: codons STOP).
ATG correspond at methionine within the gene; at the
beginning of the gene, ATG is also a signal START. Ribosome assembles individual amino acids into peptide chains.
Peptides are short chains of amino acids that are linked
together. If the number of amino acids in the chain reaches
around ten or more, such substances are called polypeptides and large polypeptides are called proteins.

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4. STATE OF ART, PROPOSED CODE

AND SPECIFIC PROPERTIES

Figure 1.1. The genetic code (DNA).

The first paper on hiding messages in DNA was published

by T. Clelland and al (ref 1) in 1999 and involved the insertion of a brief message in a sample of human DNA. In
2001, these same authors published a paper showing of
possibilities of long-term storage of information in DNA
and used a classical codon encoding for the English alphabet. In 2003, C. Smith and al (ref 3) described a possible code for encrypting data.
In DNA and Boris Shimannovsky and al (ref 4) proposed an interesting and original arithmetic code. Pak
Chung Wong and al (ref 5) presented new potential applications for DNA organic data memory.
The advantages of these approaches in production keys
were presented by Masanori Arita (ref 6) and Tanaka and
all, in 2005 (ref 7). Recently, Nozomu Yachie and al (ref 8)
presented a very complete methodology, simple, flexible
and robust of data storage based on sequence alignment of
genomic DNA of living organism. D. Heider and al publish,
in 2007, a program called DNA Crypt whose use is centred
on the patent protection of genetically modified organisms
(GMOs) (ref 9).
In this work we propose a method of coding that satisfies two conditions:
Limitation of changes in the gene marker
Possibility to transfer the encrypted message in a key,
made with a polypeptide chain.

5. CHOICE OF SITE

1) In yellow: The eight blocks with a single amino acid.

2) Blocks repaired with only two first bases.

Bacillus subtilis is a non-pathogenic bacterium, which

form pores that can survive in extreme conditions. This
bacterium is a model which has already been chosen as
storage of information by several teams.
To illustrate our proposed code, we have selected a
component of this genome: the gene tatAD (alternate name
ycbz). See Figure 1.3. This gene is very short; its length is
210 base pairs, which correspond to 70 amino acids. It is a
protein classified stable.

Figure 1.2. Simplified code.

3. DEGENERACY OF GENETIC CODE

Many codons are degenerate, or redundant, meaning two
or more codons (synonymous codons) may code for the
same amino acid. See Figure 1.1. Degenerate codons
typically differ in their third position. (e.g.: GAA, GAC for
glutamine). See Figure 1.2.
The degeneracy of the genetic code is what accounts for
the existence of silent mutations. A mutation occurs
when a DNA gene is damaged or changed. A silent mutation is a mutation that does not alter the amino acid of a
gene, usually because of codon ambiguity.

Figure 1.3. Bacillus subtilis.

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S. H. Jiao et al. / Natural Science 1 (2009) 181-184

The following table lists the genetic code of these 70

amino acids
ATG TTT TCA AAC ATT GGA ATA CCG GGC
TTG ATT CTC ATC TTC GTC
ATC GCC ATT ATT ATT TTT GGC CCT TCC AAG
CTG CCG GAA ATC GGG
CGT GCC GCG AAA CGG ACA CTG CTG GAA TTT
AAC AGC GCC ACA AAC
TCA CTT GTG TCT GGT GAT GAA AAA GAA GAG
AAA TCA GCT GAG CTG
ACA GCG GTA AAG CAG GAC AAC AAC GCG GGC
A short list concern only the underlining codons: TCA
GGA CCG GGC CTC , codons-owned blocks of
the Table 2, in yellow mark.

6. IMPLEMENTATION
6.1. Encryption
By example, we consider the message CODING. After
translation with ASCII code (with 8 bits per character), this
message requires 48 bits.
C01000001
O01001111
D01000100
I01001001
N01001110
G01001111
With the rate of 2 bits per codon, this message requires
24 codons. For his implementation, only 35 codons are
selected (codons underlined).The beginning and the end of
this message necessarily belongs to these 35 codons, so
that only two 6 bits numbers (two times three codons) are
needed for their localization.
If we assume that the beginning is located at the 9th
codon, and is 48 bits long (24 codons), the end of the message will be located at 32 th codon.
Beginning at 9 00 10 01
End at 32 01 00 00
Six codons are needed for their localization.
/1 2 3/-//4 5 6//7 8///9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32///33 34 35.
The coding consists in replacing the 3rd base of these
codons by A, C, G, T according this table:
A if 00 C if 01
G if 10 T if 11
Before coding we, in the first line have
ATG TTT TCA AAC ATT GGA ATA CCG GGC TTG
ATT CTC ATC TTC GTC
After coding we obtain:
ATG TTT TCA AAC ATT GGG ATA CCC GGG TTG
ATT CTA ATC TTC GTA
The first 24 codons selected on the short list are:
CCT TCC CTC CCG GGG CGT
GCC GCC CGG ACA CTG CTG
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GCC ACA TCA CTT GTG TCT

GGT TCA GCT CTG ACA GCG
After coding, we obtain:
CCC TCA CTA CCT GGC CGA
GCT GCT CGC ACA CTC CTA
GCC ACA TCG CTC GTC TCA
GGT TCG GCC CTA ACC GCT
4 codons (underlined) are not modified by the coding.
Only 25 codons of the original genes 70 codons (tatAD)
are modified. All the mutations are particular missense
mutations: silent mutations; with its location, the encryption of this message requires 60 bits and 25 mutations.
Thus, on average, each silent mutation can insert slightly
more than 2 bits of hidden message.

6.2. Decryption
Decryption is particularly easy. After obtaining the beginning and the end of the message from the first 6 codons of
the shortlist, it is sufficient to replace, in the sequence of
codons corresponding to the message, the last base of each
codon by its equivalent in bits:
(A00, C01, G10, T11)
In this example, a very short gene is used for demonstration purposes, but this method can be applied to longer
genes, that are more than 10000 base pairs long (such as
the gene srfAA de Bacillus subtilis) which then allows the
insertion of messages 50 that are time longer (~2400 bits
and therefore 300 ASCII characters).

7. MATERIALISATION OF THE KEY,

COMPLEMENTS
7.1. Producing the Key
It is possible to replace the list of 30 codon, which can be
synthesized and materialized in the form of a polypeptide,
as in the preceding example, with a new list of 60 amino
acids. Indeed, if we consider the beginning of the Short list
(after coding):
TCA GGG CCC ..We have the possibility to introduce a peptide chain:
Ser (TCA) Gly (GGG) Pro (CCC) .
But it is not possible, with only this chain, to rediscover the different codons of the short list in reason of
the redundancy of the genetic code.
Ser correspond to TCT TCC TCA TCG
Gly to GGT GGG GGA CGG and
Pro to CCT CCC CCA CCG
For resolve this difficulty we propose the following
connections:
TCA GGG CC C
/\ /\ /\
T C X C A X G G X G G X C C X CCX
If X =A and X=C we obtain:

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TCA CAC G GA G G C C CA C C C
Ser His Gly Gly Pro Pro
new peptidic chain. With the chain we can retrieve the
three codons of the short list
For this, it is sufficient to conserve uniquely two
bases/in each codon.
T C C A G G G G C C C C and to regroup:
TC GG CC
CA GG CC

TCA GGG CC C
for obtain the three original codons.

7.2. Complements
It is possible to associate this encryption method with
a binary encryption algorithm (AES, RSA, Blowfish). In this case, the inserted message is not the clear
version, but a secure version after using these specific algorithms.

8. CONCLUSIONS
The use of the degeneracy of the genetic code and, in particular, the silent mutations, produces coding that does not
practically alter the properties of the inserted gene, nor the
characteristics of the host genome (very important conditions when we working with the live organisms). Memorization of the key information and the production of the
hidden message in the form of a physical polypeptide provide additional data transfer security, while the coding
protocol is being implemented).
DNA is a storage medium extremely effective: it is compact and his signature is innocuousness and secrecy. In the
spore form, Bacillus subtilis is resistant to extremes terrestrial and extraterrestrial environment during the interstellar
travel, for example (ref 10). In the nearly future, this bioengineering method can be used in routine, for protection
of the gene patents, digital copyrights and tool for the
marking in biodiversity

7.3. Simplified Version

If, in spite of the precaution to using silent mutations during the identification of genetically modified organisms,
residual biological changes still exist in the host organism,
then a simplified version of the method discussed above
can be used.
From the gene initially modified by the agrochemical
firm (if this gene is accessible to the user), we propose to
use this gene as stegomedium, to produce a custom key.
This key can allow access to the reference of manufacturer.
With this goal in mind, in the preceding example (with the
message CODING of 48bits), we select 24 codons of the
70 existing in the tatAD gene.
Each codon selected is identified by its rank in the chain
(7 bits per codons are necessary, here corresponding to a
total of 24x7=168 bits). These 168 bits are the customized
key (customizations results from the different possible
orders in this genes chain), The last base of the codon
selected (A,T,C or G) allows access to the bits 01, 10 ,00,
11 that form the message. It is important to note that the
marker gene is not altered by this operation. Information
on origin and dates of manufacture concerning these seeds
can be obtained. Security comes both the use of the key
and the specific nature of the changes, made voluntarily by
the manufacturer on the original gene, for obtain the desired biological effects.

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