The potential and challenges of nanopore sequencing

Abstract

A nanopore-based device provides single-molecule detection and analytical capabilities that are achieved by electrophoretically driving molecules in solution through a nano-scale pore. The nanopore provides a highly confined space within which single nucleic acid polymers can be analyzed at high throughput by one of a variety of means, and the perfect processivity that can be enforced in a narrow pore ensures that the native order of the nucleobases in a polynucleotide is reflected in the sequence of signals that is detected. Kilobase length polymers (single-stranded genomic DNA or RNA) or small molecules (e.g., nucleosides) can be identified and characterized without amplification or labeling, a unique analytical capability that makes inexpensive, rapid DNA sequencing a possibility. Further research and development to overcome current challenges to nanopore identification of each successive nucleotide in a DNA strand offers the prospect of 'third generation' instruments that will sequence a diploid mammalian genome for approximately $1,000 in approximately 24 h.

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Affiliated Institutions

• Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution US
• Arizona State University US
• University of California, Santa Cruz US
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory US
• John Brown University US
• North Carolina State University US
• Electronic BioSciences (United States) US
• University of California, San Diego US
• Case Western Reserve University US
• Nabsys (United States) US
• University of British Columbia CA
• University of Oxford GB
• University of Washington US
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill US
• Harvard University Press US
• National Institutes of Health US

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