Optical DNA Sequencing in a Nanopore Array

Rapid progresses have been achieved in one of the most promising third-generation sequencing methods: nanopore sequencing during recent years. Optical nanopore sequencing shows visible potential as the latest method. By optically encoding the ionic flux through protein nanopores, such as α-haemolysin and MspA, in a single droplet interface bilayer, the discrimination and detection of nucleic acid sequences can be parallelized. Nanopore blockades can discriminate between DNAs with sub-picoampere equivalent resolution, and specific miRNA sequences can be identified by differences in unzipping kinetics. If completely developed, this method will greatly increase the speed of sequencing after overcoming the sacrifices in device size and cost.