Scientists have developed a method of "painting" with DNA that can create 16 million colors to accurately reproduce digital images with 24-bit color depth. The resulting images are incredible and represent not only a new art form, but also potential advances in storing data on DNA.

DNA can encode a vast amount of information, not just through the arrangement of the bases (the letters GCAT), but also through its double-stranded structure. When the two strands pair up and form what is called a duplex, they follow specific rules to ensure the stability of the duplex, which makes them programmable. However, scientists have also found that they can expand the possibilities by incorporating a degree of instability into the program.

In a new study, scientists at the University of Vienna used this technique to create DNA artwork on a tiny canvas. They used small DNA strands attached to fluorescent molecules that emit red, green or blue light, and used these segments to form duplexes with longer DNA strands attached to the surface.

Different colors can be produced by mixing red, green and blue molecules in different proportions. At the same time, the specific hue of each color can be adjusted by adjusting the stability of each duplex - the lower the stability, the darker the color. The team tweaked it to create 256 hues for each color channel, opening up 16 million unique combinations—the full spectrum of RGB used in inks and displays.

The researchers then began painting using the DNA palette. They used a technique called maskless array synthesis (MAS), which allowed them to synthesize hundreds or thousands of DNA sequences at once and decide which color to place on each "pixel" of the canvas. In this way, they can reproduce digital images on a canvas the size of a fingernail, with a color depth of 24 bits and a resolution of 1024x768. The team says it should eventually be possible to scale this process to Full HD or even 4K.

The team also says the technology could also help improve the emerging field of DNA data storage.

The research was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.