Nanopore sequencing for microbial detection on the International Space Station

On the International Space Station (ISS), technologies for rapid microbial identification and infectious disease diagnostics are not available. Meeting these needs currently relies on the time- and resource-intensive processes of sample return and ground-based analyses using traditional culture and molecular biology-based methodologies. Next-generation DNA sequencing is a powerful tool permitting the identification of contaminating microbes in air, water, and on surfaces, as well as providing infectious disease diagnostic capabilities from human samples. Until recently, there has not been a viable platform to facilitate DNA sequencing on the ISS. The arrival of a commercially available, portable sequencing device, the MinION™ (Oxford Nanopore Technologies), with its small volume and low mass, has made high-throughput DNA sequencing in the final frontier achievable. The MinION™ measures 9.5 × 3.2 × 1.6 cm, draws its power from a laptop or tablet via a Universal Serial Bus connection, and possesses a mass of less than 100 grams. This instrument is a nanopore-based sequencer and determines nucleotide sequences as label-free, single DNA strands translocate through biological nanopore proteins. Nanopore sequencing is developed around single molecule detection, providing the potential of much broader applications assessing RNA, proteins, and other biomolecules. Due to the potential to sequence other biomolecules, NASA designated the MinION™ and its accompanying hardware as the Biomolecule Sequencer payload, which launched on SpaceX CRS-9 on July 18, 2016. The data presented will describe the results of DNA sequencing in space and the potential application towards microbial detection on the ISS.