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Exploring Nanopore Sequencing Technology: How Does It Uncover the Mysteries of DNA?
The rise of nanopore technology is undoubtedly a revolution in today's genomics and molecular biology research. This technology based on nanoscale holes not only allows scientists to gain a new perspective on DNA sequences, but also provides a potential breakthrough for disease diagnosis and treatment.
Nanopores refer to holes with diameters on the nanometer scale. These pores can come from biological protein channels or holes in artificial materials such as silicon or graphene.
When these nanopores are present in electrically insulating films, they can serve as single-molecule detectors, with the size of these pores enabling them to sense single molecules such as DNA and RNA that pass through them. The technology works by applying a voltage across a membrane to monitor the flow of electrical current.
Types of nanopores
Organic nanopores
Organic nanopores are typically composed of pore-forming proteins with hollow cores that enable molecular delivery across cell membranes. Common pore-forming proteins such as alpha-hemolysin and MspA porins typically range in size from 2 to 20 nanometers, allowing them to let small molecules pass through while blocking larger ones.
For example, through nanopore technology, scientists have been able to use cells in microcapsules for insulin secretion. This technology is expected to replace pancreatic beta cells that have lost their function, which is of great significance to diabetic patients.
Inorganic nanopores
Inorganic nanopores are mostly made of solid materials such as silicon nitrogen compounds. The manufacturing of this type of nanopore relies on some advanced technologies, such as ion beam engraving and laser-assisted film drawing. In recent years, research on using graphene to create nanopores has gradually increased, which has an important impact on improving the performance of nanopores.
For example, the emergence of elastic nanopores with adjustable volume makes it possible to measure particles at the microscopic level, promoting various types of particle detection.
Nanopore sequence technology
One of the most exciting applications in nanopore technology is nanopore sequencing technology. The technology is based on observing DNA strands entering a nanopore, and as different nucleotides in these strands pass through, the current value changes accordingly. This allows scientists to read DNA sequences quickly and accurately.
Oxford Nanopore Technologies' innovative equipment can measure changes in electrical current in a thousandth of a second to obtain DNA sequence information.
This process can be considered a form of high-throughput sequence analysis because it can process large amounts of data simultaneously, thus speeding up the overall analysis process. More importantly, nanopore technology has also pioneered new methods for molecular detection of RNA and proteins, which is of great significance for analyzing biomolecular interactions.
Application fields
In addition to rapid DNA sequencing, nanopore technology also shows great potential in separating single- and double-stranded DNA and determining polymer length. The technology is helping scientists gain insights into areas such as polymer biophysics, single-molecule analysis, and peptide sequencing.
For example, peptide sequence testing using biological nanopores can effectively identify different amino acids in the peptide chain, bringing new ideas for future drug design.
With the further development of this technology, its potential application areas also include environmental testing, food safety and medicine. As scientists continue to explore, nanopore technology is bound to win more attention and applications in the future.
If nanopore technology can be more widely used in the fields of human health and environmental protection, what unexpected breakthroughs can it bring in the future?
