Scientist and poet embed poem in DNA of near-immortal bacteria, creating a living artwork that could last billions of years
Christian Bök
and University of Texas chemical engineer
Lydia Contreras
have embedded a poem into the DNA of one of Earth's toughest organisms. This microbe could preserve art for billions of years.
In a project that fuses biotechnology with literature, the duo used
Deinococcus radiodurans
, nicknamed 'Conan the Bacteria', to record verses inside its genetic code. This microbe can survive extreme radiation, freezing, dehydration, and even the vacuum of space, making it virtually immortal by our standards.
Under ideal conditions, it could persist for geological timescales, safeguarding human culture far beyond our civilization's lifespan.
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The research is part of Bök's decades-long literary-scientific experiment, The Xenotext, to turn poetry into a living, self-replicating artifact.
The Bacteria That Could Outlast Humanity
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Deinococcus radiodurans is considered one of the most resilient lifeforms known to science. Its DNA repair mechanisms allow it to survive doses of radiation thousands of times higher than lethal levels for humans.
Scientists believe it could remain intact for billions of years, making it an ideal 'time capsule' for human knowledge and art.
A Poem That Writes Back
The encoded poem, 'Orpheus,' begins with the line 'Any lifestyle is primitive.' When the bacterium 'reads' this genetic sequence, it produces a protein chain that translates into a second, complementary poem, 'Eurydice,' beginning with 'The fairy is pink with shine.' The protein also glows red, creating a visual embodiment of the poem's imagery.
This transformation is possible thanks to a mutually bijective cipher developed by Bök, where each letter of one poem corresponds to a fixed letter in the other. According to a CPG article, the system, which took four years to complete, ensures that both works are perfectly interlinked.
A 25-Year Journey to Fuse Biology and Literature
Bök first attempted the idea 2015 with a more fragile bacterium, publishing the results in The Xenotext: Book 1. But his ultimate goal was to work with D. radiodurans, whose near-indestructibility would ensure the poem's survival even in catastrophic scenarios.
His latest book, The Xenotext: Book 2, represents the result of 25 years of research, trials, and errors.
'I wanted to create something that could survive the Sun,' said Bök as quoted by CPG. 'It's a gesture towards preserving human culture across planetary timescales.'
The Science Behind the Art
Contreras, whose laboratory specializes in the genetic manipulation of D. radiodurans, partnered with Bök to make the project feasible. She called the work 'philosophically exciting,' as it bridges the gap between DNA's genetic language and humans' written language.
Beyond its artistic dimension, the project showcases DNA's potential as a
long-term data storage
medium.
Unlike digital files that decay over decades or centuries, biological archives could last indefinitely, perhaps even serving as a message to extraterrestrial civilizations.
Between Myth and Immortality
The project's name and structure are inspired by the ancient Greek myth of
Orpheus and Eurydice
, a story of love, loss, and the attempt to bring something back from the underworld.
In this case, the 'resurrection' is a set of immortal verses engraved in the very code of life.
For Bök, it's both a scientific milestone and a poetic statement: 'In the end, it's about how we store information that will survive forever.'
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