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Embracing Errors Can Be More Efficient Than Avoiding Them Through Constrained Coding for DNA Data Storage

delete2026-01-01
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PRE
AI
F
Franziska Weindel *
A
Andreas L. Gimpel
R
Robert N. Grass
R
Reinhard Heckel
DOI:10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3610330delete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
DNA is an attractive medium for digital data storage. When data is stored on DNA, errors occur, making error-correcting codes critical for reliable storage. A common approach to reduce errors is constrained coding, which avoids homopolymers (consecutive repeated nucleotides) and balances GC content, as they are associated with higher error rates. However, constrained coding comes at the cost of an increase in redundancy. An alternative is to randomize DNA sequences, embrace errors, and compensate with additional coding redundancy. In this paper, we identify the error regimes in which embracing substitution errors is more efficient than constrained coding. Our results indicate that constrained coding for substitution errors can be inefficient in current DNA data storage systems. Theoretical analysis shows that constrained coding would be efficient only under high error rates in homopolymers and GC-imbalanced sequences, while empirical data show that error-rate increases for these nucleotides are minimal in current systems.
Keywords:
Codes
DNA data storage
Channel coding
Error analysis
Redundancy
Decoding
Error correction codes
DNA sequencing
Costs
Systematics
constrained coding
random coding
achievable code rates
Gilbert-Varshamov bounds

Journal

I
IEEE Transactions on Molecular Biological and Multi-Scale Communications
IF:
2.3
Papers:
69
Citations:
551

Organization

T
technical university of munich
Scholars:
7.4K
Papers: 2.9K
Citations: 1
S
swiss federal institutes of technology domain
Scholars:
9.0W
Papers: 8.0W
Citations: 163
Cited Papers

Cited Papers

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Characterizing and measuring bias in sequence data
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errRoss, Michael G.; Russ, Carsten; Costello, Maura; Hollinger, Andrew; Lennon, Niall J.; Hegarty, Ryan; Nusbaum, Chad; Jaffe, David B.
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Robust Chemical Preservation of Digital Information on DNA in Silica with Error‐Correcting Codes
err2015-02-04
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PREAI
errRobert N. Grass; Reinhard Heckel; Michela Puddu; Daniela Paunescu; Wendelin J. Stark
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HEDGES error-correcting code for DNA storage corrects indels and allows sequence constraints
err2020-07-16
err92
errOAAI
errPress, William H.; Hawkins, John A.; Jones, Stephen K.; Schaub, Jeffrey M.; Finkelstein, Ilya J.
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Shining a Light on Dark Sequencing: Characterising Errors in Ion Torrent PGM Data
err2013-04-11
err0
errOAAI
errLauren M. Bragg; Glenn Stone; Margaret K. Butler; Philip Hugenholtz; Gene W. Tyson
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