Optical recognition of converted DNA nucleotides for single-molecule DNA sequencing using nanopore arrays.

We demonstrate the feasibility of a nanopore based single-molecule DNA sequencing method, which employs multicolor readout. Target DNA is converted according to a binary code, which is recognized by molecular beacons with two types of fluorophores. Solid-state nanopores are then used to sequentially strip off the beacons, leading to a series of detectable photon bursts, at high speed. We show that signals from multiple nanopores can be detected simultaneously, allowing straightforward parallelization to large nanopore arrays.