Engineering biological memory in bacteria

The goal is to develop a new tool for information storage in bacteria using DNA methylation as an epigenetic switch. We will develop an artificial gene promoter regulated by methylation to create specific DNA methylation profiles. The novel DNA methylation patterns generated will be used to memorize inputs in living bacteria. Here we wish to design a DNA methylation system to track and record DNA replication to identify and study metabolically dormant bacteria. This system will be usable for studying bacterial phenotypic heterogeneity.