DNA Sequencing, Without the Fuss

An article in Science Now gives information about new technology for DNA sequencing. The technology has been improving in recent years, and the newest is called nanopore sequencing. Nanopore sequencing allows researchers to for the first time continuously read the chemical letters of DNAas it travels through a tiny pore. This advance in technology may drop the cost of sequencing a complete human genome below $1000, which is expected to alter personalized medicine and help develop new genetic-based diagnostics and medicines. Most DNA sequencing takes days to complete, but nanopore sequencing simplifies the steps and is becoming the fastest and cheapest method currently.
This idea of passing a DNA strand through a small pore to read it was first suggested by researchers in Massachusetts and California in 1996. Scientists have figured out how to use an electrical charge to send DNA through proteins with tiny pores embedded in a film. DNA bases pass through the pore, and then change the electrical charge. The changes are detected and bases are identified .  One major problem with nanopore sequencing has been that when an electric voltage is applied across the film, DNA tends to move through the nanopore too quickly. In 2010, Mark Akeson and his team at the University of California, Santa Cruz, found that adding a protein called phi29 to a nanopore sequencer could be a possible solution because it slows down the DNA. With this protein added, only 20 to 30 nucleotide bases move through per second. By early 2013, it is expected that a nanopore sequencing company called Oxford Nanopore Technologies would be selling machines with thousands of nanopores, making it possible to sequence a full genome in as little as 15 minutes and for around $1000.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="Nanopore DNA Sequencing"][/caption]