ZAT-DNA enables DNA data storage with molecular-layer non-replicability

Deoxyribonucleic acid provides unmatched information density and longevity for data storage, yet its easy amplification by polymerase chain reaction enables unauthorized replication at negligible cost. We introduce ZAT-DNA, which encodes information in patterns of canonical adenine and noncanonical 2-aminoadenine. As DNA polymerases cannot distinguish adenine from 2-aminoadenine, polymerase-based amplification erases these patterns, enforcing molecular-layer non-replicability intrinsic to the base-pairing ambiguity. We validate ZAT-DNA for secure key storage, demonstrating error-free encoding, storage, and high-fidelity nanopore retrieval of 32-bit and 64-bit cryptographic keys. ZAT-DNA blocks polymerase-based copying and protects non-fungible tokens by preventing functional duplication. For larger datasets, we present a hybrid “Babel-DNA” architecture: multiple encrypted images are co-encoded in a single regular DNA pool, with each selectively decryptable only via its cognate, non-replicable ZAT-DNA key. This provides a practical framework for molecular access control, secure DNA-encoded databases, and scarce molecular tokens. ZAT-DNA encodes data in A/Z base patterns that PCR erases, ensuring molecular non-replicability. It enables secure 32/64-bit key storage and nanopore retrieval, blocks copying, and protects NFTs. The Babel-DNA hybrid allows selective access to multiple encrypted datasets from a single DNA pool using unique ZAT-DNA keys.