DNA-MGC+: A versatile codec for reliable and resource-efficient data storage on synthetic DNA

TL;DR

DNA-MGC+ is a new DNA storage codec that significantly improves reliability and efficiency across various sequencing methods and error conditions, enabling practical and cost-effective DNA data storage.

Contribution

It introduces DNA-MGC+, a versatile codec that enhances error correction and resource efficiency in DNA data storage under diverse conditions.

Findings

Reliable decoding at up to 24% IDS error rate.

Successful retrieval at sequencing depths below 3x.

Reduced read costs to below 3.5 bits/nt.

Abstract

The biochemical processes underlying DNA data storage, including synthesis, amplification, and sequencing, are inherently noisy. Consequently, base-level insertion, deletion, and substitution (IDS) errors, as well as sequence-level dropouts, occur and pose major challenges for reliable data retrieval. Here we introduce DNA-MGC+, a DNA storage codec designed to enable reliable and resource-efficient data retrieval under diverse operating conditions. We evaluate DNA-MGC+ across a wide range of in silico and in vitro settings, including experiments with both Illumina and Nanopore sequencing, and show that it consistently outperforms existing codecs. In particular, DNA-MGC+ achieves simultaneous gains in sequencing depth requirements, read cost, decoding time, storage density, and error-correction capability under explicit reliability constraints. Notable results include reliable decoding under IDS error rates of up to 24% in synthetic scenarios, and reliable retrieval at sequencing depths below 3x with read costs below 3.5 bits/nt under electrochemical synthesis for both Illumina and Nanopore sequencing.