Rapid detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms using the MinION nanopore sequencer: a feasibility study for perioperative precision medicine

INTRODUCTION: Precision medicine is a phrase used to describe personalized medical care tailored to specific patients based on their clinical presentation and genetic makeup. However, despite the fact that several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been reported to be associated with increased susceptibility to particular anesthetic agents and the occurrence of perioperative complications, genomic profiling and thus precision medicine has not been widely applied in perioperative management. METHODS: We validated six SNP loci known to affect perioperative outcomes in Japanese patients using genomic DNA from saliva specimens and nanopore sequencing of each SNP loci to facilitate allele frequency calculations and then compared the nanopore results to those produced using the conventional dideoxy sequencing method. RESULTS: Nanopore sequencing reads clustered into the expected genotypes in both homozygous and heterozygous cases. In addition, the nanopore sequencing results were consistent with those obtained using conventional dideoxy sequencing and the workflow provided reliable allele frequency estimation, with a total analysis time of less than 4 h. CONCLUSION: Thus, our results suggest that nanopore sequencing is a promising and versatile tool for SNP genotyping, allowing for rapid and feasible risk prediction of perioperative outcomes. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40981-022-00506-7.