Application of Nanopore Sequencing in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Pulmonary Infections

We examined the emergence and advancements of nanopore sequencing as a significant player in this field. We illustrate the challenges faced in diagnosing mixed infection s and further scrutinize the use of nanopore sequencing in the identification of single pathogens, including viruses (with a focus on its use in epidemiology, outbreak investigation, and viral resistance), bacteria (emphasizing 16S targeted sequencing, rare bacterial lung infections, and antimicrobi al resistance studies), fungi (employing internal transcribed spacer sequencing), tuberculosis, and atypical pathogens. Furthermore, we discuss the role of nanopore sequencing in metagenomics and its potential for unbiased detection of all pathogens in a clinical setting, emphasizing its advantages in sequencing genome repeat areas and structural variant regions. We discuss the limitations in dealing with host DNA removal, the inherent high error rate of nanopore sequencing technology, along with the complexity of operation and processing, while acknowledging the possibilities provided by rec ent technological improvements. We compared nanopore sequencing with the BioFire system, a rapid molecular diagnostic system based on polymerase chain reaction. Although the BioFire system serves well for the rapid screening of known and common pathogens, it falls short in the identification of unkn own or rare pathogens and in providing comprehensive genome analysis. As technological advancements continue, it is anticipated...
Source: Molecular Diagnosis and Therapy - Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research