Nucleic acid security and authentication

Abstract

Methods and systems for security, authentication, tagging, and tracking using nucleic acid (e.g., deoxyribonucleic acid) molecules encoding information. Unique nucleic acid molecules are efficiently produced from pre-fabricated fragments to quickly produce libraries of nucleic acid molecules encoding encrypted or randomized information. Physical objects or artifacts can be tagged with libraries to authenticate the objects, grant access to secured assets or locations, or track the objects or entities. Chemical methods can be applied to verify authenticity, decrypt, or decode information stored in the libraries.

1 . A method for tagging a fluid for tracking or authentication, the method comprising: obtaining a library of nucleic acid molecules representing digital information; and combining the fluid with a tag comprising the library of nucleic acid molecules to obtain a tagged fluid for tracking or authentication. 
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 sampling the tagged fluid to obtain a sample containing at least a part of the library of nucleic acid molecules.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein sampling comprises swabbing or drawing a volume from the tag or the tagged fluid. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising: sequencing nucleic acid molecules of the sample to obtain a sequencing readout. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 comparing the sequencing readout to a reference sequence to determine a presence of a matching sequence.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the tag comprises a molecular barcode specific to the tag. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information comprises a message. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the fluid is any one of an oil, an ink, a compressed gas, or a drug. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 measuring a concentration of the tag in the tagged fluid to determine an amount of dilution.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the library is generated by selecting a subset of nucleic acid molecules from a pool of nucleic acid molecules. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 accessing the tagged fluid, thereby causing the tag in the tagged fluid to decay.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the tag is part of a two-factor authentication system. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information represents a currency value. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information comprises a plurality of symbols, and each symbol is represented by a distinct sequence of a nucleic acid molecule of the library. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the library is randomly generated. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information is represented by the library of nucleic acid molecules via an encoding scheme wherein the information is mapped to a plurality of symbols having one of two possible symbol values, wherein a symbol of the plurality of symbols is represented by presence of a distinct nucleic acid molecule in the library if the symbol has a first symbol value of the two possible symbol values, and, where in the symbol is represented by absence of the distinct nucleic acid molecule if the symbol has a second symbol value of the two possible symbol values. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information comprises at least a kilobit of information. 
     
     
         18 .- 46 . (canceled)