Single-molecule electrical random resequencing of DNA and RNA

Sci Rep. 2012:2:501. doi: 10.1038/srep00501. Epub 2012 Jul 10.

Abstract

Two paradigm shifts in DNA sequencing technologies-from bulk to single molecules and from optical to electrical detection-are expected to realize label-free, low-cost DNA sequencing that does not require PCR amplification. It will lead to development of high-throughput third-generation sequencing technologies for personalized medicine. Although nanopore devices have been proposed as third-generation DNA-sequencing devices, a significant milestone in these technologies has been attained by demonstrating a novel technique for resequencing DNA using electrical signals. Here we report single-molecule electrical resequencing of DNA and RNA using a hybrid method of identifying single-base molecules via tunneling currents and random sequencing. Our method reads sequences of nine types of DNA oligomers. The complete sequence of 5'-UGAGGUA-3' from the let-7 microRNA family was also identified by creating a composite of overlapping fragment sequences, which was randomly determined using tunneling current conducted by single-base molecules as they passed between a pair of nanoelectrodes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Electric Conductivity*
  • Humans
  • Nanopores*
  • Nanotechnology
  • Nucleotides / chemistry
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA* / methods
  • Sequence Analysis, RNA* / methods

Substances

  • Nucleotides