Nanopore DNA sequencing: Are we there yet?

Nanopores have been studied as a unique DNA sequencing technology that can quickly read long stretched DNA sequences. A DNA molecule could pass through a nanopore in a speed of microsecond per base and even faster. With this speed, a human genome can potentially be sequenced by one nanopore in <1 h. In contrast to next-generation DNA sequencing (NGS), the nanopore sequencing is enzyme free without need of sample amplification due to its single-molecule nature. The nanopore sequencing has been envisioned as a new generation of DNA sequencing technology in the post-NGS era. This progress focuses on status quo of the nanopore DNA sequencing and discusses the opportunities and challenges in this rapidly growing field.