That’s a lot of raw data—roughly a 3.2-gigabyte digital file (for human DNA)—but it’s nothing compared to that embedded within each cell of a Japanese perennial plant called Paris japonica, whose DNA computer file takes up around 150 GB of space.
Computer science and biology have been forced together in scientists’ efforts to squeeze meaning from these giant pools of data. Genomic analysis would be impossible without the processing power of silicon brains churning through the information.
“Now we’re getting huge, absolutely huge, data sets,” said Patrick Schnable, the director of Iowa State University’s centers for Plant Genomics and Carbon Capturing Crops, in a university release. “There is no way to analyze these data sets without extraordinary computer resources. There’s no way we could do this without the collaboration of engineers.”
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