DNA-LSIED: DNA lossy storage for images by encryption and corrective denoising method

The increasing demand for image data storage exceeds the capabilities of current technology and DNA, as an emerging storage medium, is expected to resolve the challenge of storing massive image data. Recent DNA image storage methods adopted fixed code tables and error-correcting codes without leveraging image characteristics, leading to low coding density, low security, and poor reconstruction. In this paper, according to the characteristics of images and DNA storage, we propose a method called DNA Lossy Storage Image Encryption and Denoising (DNA-LSIED), which focuses on image security and high-quality image reconstruction. Firstly, DNA-LSIED converts the pixel matrix into DNA sequences using the chaotic encryption algorithm to balance the GC content. Then, it employs the maximum-probability insertion and deletion strategy to convert base insertion and deletion errors into substitution errors which are dispersed and converted into noise on the image through data interleaving. Finally, median filtering is applied to remove the noise caused by base substitution errors to reconstruct high-quality images. Compared to other methods, DNA-LSIED has significant advantages in terms of reconstructed image quality, coding density and synthesized cost, which contributes to cost savings and large-scale applications. DNA-LSIED provides a new insight into the storage of images in DNA and combine biotechnology with computer technology, which facilitates interdisciplinary applications.