Reagent-Free DNA Sequencing Using Biological Nanopores a Step Closer to Reality

Single-molecule nanopore sequencing when commercially developed is viewed by several researchers to help in further reducing the cost of DNA sequencing. With the nanopore technology, sequencing can be carried out without the need for enzymes and nucleotides used in current methodologies. Single stranded DNA are driven electrophoretically through a solid state or biological pore and the sequence determined by reading signals arising from the ionic current passing through the pore.

David Stoddart and colleagues at the University of Oxford and Harvard University report that biological nanopores are more advantageous and that they have demonstrated its feasibility. The group was able to identifying all 4 DNA bases in an immobilized single-stranded molecule using a mutant alpha-hemolysin protein pore. The researchers suggest further studies to make biological nanopore DNA sequencing a reality including the use of 2 recognition sites within a single pore and to train the recognition system first with a known sequence to enhance its recognition capability.

For more information, the full paper published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) is available at www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0901054106