Nanopore NGS
CoreGenomics: How does a nanopore sequencer work?
A nanopore is a very small hole, the generally under 1nM in width in a membrane of some kind. It can be made from a biological molecule or ‘punched’ into a solid surface using an electron beam. Nanopore sequencing has a very simple basic principle, DNA strands or single nucleotides are driven through a nanopore electrophoretically. As each nucleobase passes through the pore the current is affected and this change allows sequence to be read out. Each base has a characteristic change in current and, perhaps just as importantly a specific dwell time in the pore.
Executive Summary
- Nanopore have announced a strand sequencing method, made possible by a heavily modified biological nanopore and an industrially-fabricated polymer
- DNA passes through the nanopore and tri-nucleotides in contact with the pore are detected through electrochemistry
- Demonstrated 2x50kb sense & anti-sense of same molecules (lambda phage) – no theoretical read length limit
- Can sequence direct from blood without need for sample preparation
- Two products announced:
- MinIon – USB disposable sequencer for ~ $900 has 512 nanopores – target 150mb/hour
- MinIon can run at 120-1000 bases/minute per pore for up to 6 hours
- GridIon – two versions of rack-mountable sequencer with 2000 nanopores (2nd half 2012), 8000 nanopores (2013)
- GridIons can be racked in parallel, 20 could do a whole human genome in 15 minutes
- Each GridIon can do “tens of gigabases” over 24 hours
- Both machines commercially available 2nd half 2012
- Sequencing can be paused, sample recovered, replaced, started again
- Accuracy is 96%, errors are deletions, error profile will improve through software
Nanopore genome sequencer makes its debut : Nature News & Comment
Oxford Nanopore Technologies, based in Oxford, UK, revealed the initial results from its GridION system at the Advances in Genome Biology and Technology meeting in Marco Island, Florida. The firm expects to start selling its new machine in the second half of this year and also plans to launch the world’s first miniaturized, disposable sequencer — the MinION — which will retail for less than US$900.
