Nucleic acid sequencing by nanopore detection of tag molecules

1. A method for sequencing a nucleic acid molecule, the method comprising:

a) providing a chip comprising a plurality of individually addressable nanopores, wherein said plurality of individually addressable nanopores are at a density of at least about 500 individually addressable nanopores per mm 2 , wherein an individually addressable nanopore of said plurality of individually addressable nanopores comprises a nanopore in a membrane that is disposed over a well adjacent to an electrode which forms part of the surface of the well, wherein said nanopore is linked to a nucleic acid polymerase, wherein each individually addressable nanopore is adapted to detect a tag that is released from a tagged nucleotide upon the polymerization of said tagged nucleotide, and wherein each individually addressable nanopore is addressable by row and column electronics;

b) directing said nucleic acid molecule adjacent to or in proximity to said nanopore;

c) with the aid of said polymerase, polymerizing nucleotides along said nucleic acid molecule to generate a strand that is complementary to at least a portion of said nucleic acid molecule, wherein during polymerization a tag is released from an individual nucleotide of said nucleotides, and wherein said released tag flows through or in proximity to said nanopore; and

(d) detecting the tag with the aid of said electrode

wherein the said nucleic acid molecule having the structure:

wherein the base is adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine, uracil, or a derivative of one of these bases,

wherein R 1 is —O—CH 2 N 3 , or —O-2-nitrobenzyl,

wherein R 2 is H or OH,

wherein X is O, NH, S, or CH 2 ,

wherein n is 1, 2, 3, or 4,

wherein Z is O, S, or BH 3 ,

wherein the tag comprises one or more of ethylene glycol, an amino acid, a carbohydrate, a peptide, a dye, a chemilluminiscent compound, a mononucleotide, a dinucleotide, a trinucleotide, a tetranucleotide, a pentanucleotide, a hexanucleotide, an aliphatic acid, an aromatic acid, an alcohol, a thiol group, a cyano group, a nitro group, an alkyl group, an alkenyl group, an alkynyl group, an azido group, or a combination thereof.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said detecting of (d) further comprises identifying said tag.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising correlating said identified tag with a type of said individual nucleotide.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tag is detected subsequent to being released from said individual nucleotide in (d).

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating, with the aid of a computer processor, a nucleic acid sequence of the nucleic acid molecule based upon an assessment of the tags detected during polymerization.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tag passes through the nanopore, or wherein the tag passes adjacent to the nanopore.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said electrode is adapted to supply an electrical stimulus across said membrane.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said membrane has a resistance less than or equal to about 1 GΩ across said membrane.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein said resistance is measured with the aid of opposing electrodes disposed adjacent to said membrane.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein said electrode is coupled to an integrated circuit that processes a signal detected with the aid of said electrode.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein each individually addressable nanopore is adapted to regulate molecular flow.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein said individually addressable nanopore is adapted to detect said tag upon molecular flow of said tag thereof through or adjacent to said nanopore.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein said electrode is individually addressable.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein said membrane is a lipid bilayer.

15. The method of claim 1 :

wherein said membrane forms an electrically resistive barrier separating at least a first and a second electrolyte solution,

wherein said tagged nucleotide is disposed in at least said first or said second electrolyte solution,

wherein said nanopore is configured to allow an ionic current to be driven across said first and said second electrolyte solution by an applied potential, and

wherein detecting said tag with the aid of said electrode comprises:

a) passing an ionic current through said first electrolyte solution, said nanopore, and said second electrolyte solution with an electrical potential between said first and said second electrolyte solution;

b) measuring the ionic current passing through said nanopore and recording the duration of changes in the ionic current as a conductance time series, wherein said conductance time series encompasses time periods when said nanopore is unobstructed by said tag and also time periods when said tag causes pulses of reduced-conductance; and

c) delineating segments of the conductance time series into regions statistically consistent with the unobstructed pore conductance level, pulses of reduced-conductance, and statistically stationary segments within individual pulses of reduced-conductance.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein said delineating segments of the conductance time series comprises a method selected from the group consisting of:

a) a Viterbi decoding of the maximum likelihood state sequence of a Continuous Density of a Hidden Markov Model estimated from the raw conductance time series;

b) a delineation of the regions of pulses of reduced-conductance via comparison to a threshold for deviation from the open-pore conductance level; and

c) a characterization of pulses of reduced-conductance by estimating the central tendency of the ionic current levels for each segment of the conductance time series, or by measure of the central tendency of the ionic current levels for each segment of the conductance time series and segment duration together.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein said method of delineating segments of the conductance time series comprises method c), and the measure of the central tendency of the ionic current levels for each segment of the conductance time series is selected from the group consisting of:

a) a mean parameter of a Gaussian component of a first Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) estimated from the conductance time series as part of a Continuous Density Hidden Markov Model;

b) an arithmetic mean;

c) a trimmed mean;

d) a median; and

e) a Maximum A Posteriori estimator of sample location, or a maximum likelihood estimator of sample location.

18. The method of claim 17 , said method further comprising at least one of:

a) a maximum likelihood estimate of a second Gaussian Mixture Model based upon the measures of the central tendency of the ionic current levels for each segment of the conductance time series;

b) a peak finding by means of interpolation and smoothing of an empirical probability density of the estimates of the central tendency of the ionic current levels for each segment of the conductance time series and finding roots of the derivatives of the interpolating functions; and

c) another means of locating the modes of multimodal distribution estimator.

19. A method for sequencing a nucleic acid molecule, the method comprising:

a) providing a chip comprising a plurality of individually addressable nanopores, wherein said plurality of individually addressable nanopores are at a density of at least about 500 individually addressable nanopores per mm 2 , wherein an individually addressable nanopore of said plurality of individually addressable nanopores comprises a nanopore in a membrane that is disposed over a well adjacent to an electrode which forms part of the surface of the well, wherein said nanopore is linked to a nucleic acid polymerase, wherein alkaline phosphatase molecules are covalently attached adjacent to the polymerase at the rim of said nanopore, wherein each individually addressable nanopore is adapted to detect a tag that is released from a tagged nucleotide upon the polymerization of said tagged nucleotide, and wherein each individually addressable nanopore is addressable by row and column electronics and wherein low-noise CMOS electronics are integrated with said nanopore;

b) directing said nucleic acid molecule adjacent to or in proximity to said nanopore;

c) with the aid of said polymerase, polymerizing nucleotides along said nucleic acid molecule to generate a strand that is complementary to at least a portion of said nucleic acid molecule, wherein during polymerization a tag is released from an individual nucleotide of said nucleotides, and wherein said released tag flows through or in proximity to said nanopore; and

d) detecting the tag with the aid of said electrode.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein low-noise CMOS electronics has an integrated amplifier of an area of 0.2 mm 2 .