Nanopore event detection in a simple and adaptive way

Abstract

Nanopore read-out, that is the current signals measured across nanometer-sized openings in dielectric membranes or through natural protein channels, enables the detection, identification and sequencing of individual molecules. The detection can take place by analyzing the events of single biomolecules interacting with the pore. The accuracy in the detection of these single events is key for identification of physicochemical properties of analyte molecules. To this end, we further develop a very simple, fast, almost parameter-free, and adaptable cluster-based event detection (CBED) algorithm that clusters the nanopore signals prior to detecting nanopore events. The algorithm is validated against two other event detection schemes with respect to simplicity and efficiency. For this, nanopore data from four different experiments stemming from different laboratories that vary in the nanopore type, size, and analyte are considered. The comparison is made on the basis of the number of events detected, their quality, and the most important features extracted from nanopore events. Our results underline the higher efficiency and less noise of the CBED detected events for biological nanopore data and the need for an on-the-fly adaptivity of the baseline current for a class of solid-state nanopore data.