The instrument

The MinION is a sequencing instrument providing long reads, and commercialized by Oxford Nanopore Technologies:

The sequencing technology

Here you can find a video briefly explaining the technology.

Sequencing calls on a MinION platform are based on the detection of electric signal recorded through the nanopores of the flowcell, as the DNA/cDNA fragment passes through it.

The nanopores are distributed all over the surface of the MinION flowcell. The fragments to be sequenced are processed with library preparation, then added on the flowcell, and they are guided inside the nanopores by an enzyme standing on top of them. These enzymes unwind the fragments (double-stranded) at the aperture of the nanopore, so a single-stranded DNA can pass through it. While passing through the nanopore, the electrical current is disrupted by the charges of the nucleotides that pass through it. The disruption of charge defines then the nature of the nucleotides flowing through the nanopore.

After DNA fragmentation, the MinION library is prepared by ligating adapters to the double-stranded DNA fragments. One side receives a Y-form adapter, and the other side a hairpin-form adaptor. When the Y-form adapter approaches the pore, one strand starts to be sequenced. This sequence is called template. After the hairpin-form adapter is sequenced, the complement sequence is read. The template and complement sequences are sometimes called 1D reads. The consensus of template and complement sequences is called a 2D read.

Next

Find out what Biological material we will be working with.

Go to page with tips, how to do a proper File organization .

If you know everything above, jump to Checkpoint .

Go back to page about Pacific Biosciences: RSII .

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