DNA-Based Nanopore Sensing

Abstract

Nanopore sensing is an attractive, label-free approach that can measure single molecules. Although initially proposed for rapid and low-cost DNA sequencing, nanopore sensors have been successfully employed in the detection of a wide variety of substrates. Early successes were mostly achieved based on two main strategies by 1) creating sensing elements inside the nanopore through protein mutation and chemical modification or 2) using molecular adapters to enhance analyte recognition. Over the past five years, DNA molecules started to be used as probes for sensing rather than substrates for sequencing. In this Minireview, we highlight the recent research efforts of nanopore sensing based on DNA-mediated characteristic current events. As nanopore sensing is becoming increasingly important in biochemical and biophysical studies, DNA-based sensing may find wider applications in investigating DNA-involving biological processes.

Keywords: DNA probes; current signatures; nanopores; quantification; sensing.