ID Technica, a Tokyo-based security business using biotechnology, aims to start marketing the DNA-ink pen "around summer this year," said management planning official Koichi Haraguchi.

"The product could be used by ordinary people as well as celebrities and famous painters for whom the authenticity of their autographs matters a lot," he said.

A reading device using infra-red rays can tell whether the signatures are authentic, he said.

DNA taken from a client would be used to make "synthetic DNA," which carries DNA sequences particular to the person but not information about any diseases he or she might have.

The synthetic DNA is mixed with light-reflecting pigments to make the special ink, Haraguchi said.

One kilogramme (2.2 pounds) of the ink would be priced at two million yen (16,670 US dollars), he said, adding that the amounts sold individually would be much smaller.

The reading device is to be sold for 100,000 yen.

Ink containing a person's DNA information was used by a US company to print tickets for the Sydney Olympics games in 2000, he said.

SPACE.WIRE