PerkinElmer eBook - Next-Gen Sequencing - 14

Next-Gen Sequencing * Nanopore Sequencing

Nuts, Bolts, and Pores
Nanopore sequencing is a relatively simple but elegant technology, capable
of reading long stretches of native (unamplified) DNA with little processing
involved. Essentially, a small pore roughly 1 nanometer in diameter (about
100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair) that is made either by a
biological molecule, such as α-hemolysin, that traverses a membrane or by
"punching" a pore through a solid support using an ion beam. The system is
then bathed in a conductive fluid and a voltage potential is applied across the
membrane-pore complex. As each DNA strand or single nucleotide is
electrophoretically driven through the pore, the current fluctuates and is
picked up by a detector allowing the sequence or nucleotides to be read.
In recent years nanopore sequencing has seen a surge in interest, due in large
part to the MinION sequencing device from Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT),
the U.K.-based sequencing company that has been leading the charge to deliver
nanopore sequencing to the masses. The MinION is portable sequencer about the
size of a large USB flash drive designed to provide real-time sequencing results for
smaller genomes from organisms such as bacteria and viruses.
While interest in this technology has seen a rapid spike in interest of the past
several years, nanopore sequencing is a not a new concept, as an original patent
for a nanopore device was filed by George Church, Ph.D., renowned geneticist
and professor at Harvard and MIT, back in 1995. While his design was different
than what was ultimately created by ONT, the general principal remains the same.

14

| GENengnews.com

The MinION device from Oxford Nanopore Technologies features a flow
cell, a sensor array, and an integrated circuit that is powered through a
USB connector to a laptop.
http://www.GENengnews.com
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