Recent Advances in Aptamer-Based Nanopore Sensing at Single-Molecule Resolution

Aptamers as the recognition element of the stochastic nanopore sensors have been under intense investigation. This paper reviews recent research advances in aptamer-based nanopore sensing techniques, including the classification and selection of nanopores (biological nanopores, solid-state nanopores, and nanopipettes), different strategies of aptamer-based nanopore sensing, and their values and outlook for applications in areas such as environmental analysis, precision diagnosis, pharmaceutical industry, and security. Furthermore, the single-molecule nanopore sensors have been applied to reveal the aptamer-target interactions, such as recognition orientation, binding sites, and conformational heterogeneity dissociation kinetics at the single-molecule level. In this review, recent research efforts to develop aptamer-based single-molecule nanopore sensors with high selectivity and sensitivity are highlighted, and some perspectives are drawn.