{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,31]],"date-time":"2025-12-31T10:25:17Z","timestamp":1767176717882,"version":"build-2238731810"},"update-to":[{"DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pcbi.1012677","type":"new_version","label":"New version","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,13]],"date-time":"2025-10-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1760313600000}}],"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,7]],"date-time":"2025-10-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1759795200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Digital Life Institute, University of Auckland","award":["NA"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NA"]}]},{"name":"School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland","award":["NA"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NA"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.ploscompbiol.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS Comput Biol"],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    In biology, changes to a DNA sequence can impact protein sequence but changes to protein sequences (phenotype) do not flow back into DNA (genotype). A system with bidirectional information flow (i.e., both translation and \u2018reverse translation\u2019) remains a theoretical possibility for an independent origin of life or an artificial biosystem, but the recent development of digital data storage in DNA does just this: changes made to a digital file can be written back into DNA, meaning changes to \u2018phenotype\u2019 can be written back to \u2018genotype\u2019. To explore the evolutionary properties of such a system, we created an artificial system where synthetic DNA serves as genotype and music as phenotype. Audio can be output from a DNA sequence, then recorded and written to DNA as \u2018codons\u2019, enabling bidirectional information flow (DNA\u2192music and music\u2192DNA). Our results show that the mutation rate in a bidirectional system is much higher than for unidirectional information flow, and that, under reverse translation there is no mechanism for preservation of codon choice across generations. This has the effect of eliminating the impact of spontaneous synonymous mutations, a key benefit of a redundant genetic code. As a result, non-synonymous mutations are the only DNA-level changes that are transmitted across generations, and, as non-synonymous mutations can emerge at both \u2018genotypic\u2019 and \u2018phenotypic\u2019 levels, these occur at a two-fold higher frequency than in a unidirectional system. Our system holds some practical insight. First, for DNA read\/write systems, it may be wise to avoid designing systems with \u2018\n                    <jats:italic>\n                      <jats:italic>de novo<\/jats:italic>\n                    <\/jats:italic>\n                    reverse translation\u2019 because the opportunities for mutation are higher; tracking genotype information from the preceding generation to guide this process may reduce error. Second, our system helps clarify how a \u2018Lamarckian\u2019 biological system might operate. We conclude that, were a \u2018Lamarckian\u2019 system of inheritance a feature of early genetic systems, it would likely have been short lived as the high frequency of mutation would risk driving the system to extinction. A system based on unidirectional information flow thus appears superior as there are fewer opportunities for mutational error.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pcbi.1012677","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,7]],"date-time":"2025-10-07T17:55:04Z","timestamp":1759859704000},"page":"e1012677","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pcbi.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["A digital DNA system favours the superiority of unidirectional inheritance over \u2018Lamarckian\u2019 inheritance"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"21","author":[{"given":"Aswathi","family":"Shiju","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Samantha D. 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