Oxford unveiled the mystery of its nanopore sequencing platform GridION last year. The system will use an array chip with multiple protein nanopores to analyze DNA, RNA and proteins. The array chip is placed in a disposable cartridge, which is then loaded into a node. Users can connect several such nodes according to their needs to form an extensible sequencing platform. (For details, please see here: http://www.ebiotrade.com/newsf/2011-3/201134174619796.htm)
Just when everyone was looking forward to this instrument, Oxford announced an explosive news that the portable sequencing system MinION will be listed in the second half of the year. This instrument is only the size of a USB flash drive and costs less than 900 dollars. Both systems are expected to bring a reading length of up to 100 kb, and the original error rate is about 1%.
As soon as the news was released, it immediately caused a sensation in the market. Some people even thought it was an April Fool’s joke. Last month, Life Technologies and Illumina each released a new product, aiming to complete the sequencing of the human genome in one day. According to Oxford, GridION is expected to bring 15 minutes of human genome sequencing, and MinION is a game-changer.
Gordon Sanghera, CEO of Oxford, believes that plug-and-play MinION will bring more extensive application of DNA sequencing. "This will allow non-professional scientists to extract DNA information. All you need is a laptop and software. " However, MinION equipment is disposable, and the output is not as high as GridION.
In addition to the size, it is amazing to read the length. At present, the reading length of the new generation sequencing technology is generally 200-300 bp, the platform of Roche 454 was upgraded to 1000 bp last year, and the reading length of the third generation PacBio RS system reached 3000 bp, which was regarded as a major leap at that time. Today, Oxford’s sequencing platform will bring a reading length of 100 kb, which is expected to solve many problems that are currently powerless.
However, the above data are all published by Oxford, and no articles have been published yet, and no customers have tried them. Therefore, we may have to wait until the early trial customers have used it, or a paper has been published, before we can really determine whether the performance of the platform is so excellent.
The emergence of strong competitors has once again caused waves in the sequencing market, which was not calm. The stock prices of major sequencing companies fell. Life Technologies fell 6%, Illumina fell 3%, PacBio fell 5%, and Complete Genomics fell 3%. (biological peppermint)
Reference article:
Oxford Nanopore To Sell Tiny DNA Sequencer