PromethION
| PromethION | |
|---|---|
| Developer | Oxford Nanopore Technologies |
| Type | Nanopore sequencer |
| Release date | Early access December 2017; general sale May 2018 |
| Dimensions | 225 x 180 x 430 mm (P2 Integrated) |
| Mass | 10.6 kg (P2 Integrated) |
| Predecessor | MinION (smaller flow cell) |
| Website | nanoporetech.com |
The PromethION is the high-throughput line of nanopore sequencers made by Oxford Nanopore Technologies. Its flow cells are larger than those of the MinION, and the instruments are built to run 2, 24 or 48 of them side by side. It went on sale in May 2018, and in April 2019 a PromethION 48 produced more than 7 terabases of sequence in a single run, which the company called the highest known single yield from any sequencing device.[1]
Flow cell
A PromethION flow cell is a biological nanopore array on a chip. In the maker's technical document, "Each PromethION flow cell contains 3000 nanopore measuring channels", and the flow cell holds up to 12,000 pores in individual wells, of which 3,000 sequence at once.[2][a] That is four wells to a channel. The MinION has the same ratio at a smaller scale, with 2,048 wells and 512 channels.[2][4] Each channel is read by an application-specific integrated circuit built into the flow cell, and the flow cell runs for 72 hours.[5][6]
A PromethION 24 has a stated maximum output of 360 million current samples a second, which spread over 24 flow cells of 3,000 channels is 5 kHz a channel.[7] Basecalling that stream in real time takes graphics processors, so the instruments carry them. The PromethION 24 lists four NVIDIA A-series GPUs, 512 GB of memory and 60 TB of solid-state storage, and the PromethION 2 Integrated holds one A-series GPU in a case that measures 225 by 180 by 430 mm and weighs 10.6 kg.[8][9]
| Model | Flow cells | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| PromethION 48 | Up to 48 | Offered with the P24 in early 2019; 7 Tb in one run in April 2019[1] |
| PromethION 24 (P24) | Up to 24 | Runs flow cells together or one at a time[2][6] |
| PromethION 2 Integrated (P2) | Up to 2 | Onboard GPU; analysis runs on the device[9] |
| PromethION 2 Solo (P2 Solo) | Up to 2 | Announced October 2022[1] |
History
The company showed the design for the first time at the American Society of Human Genetics meeting in October 2014.[1] According to the company's history the PromethION Early Access Programme began delivering "very high throughput DNA sequencing" between December 2017 and January 2018, and that the instrument moved to commercial availability in May 2018. By the autumn of 2018 customers were getting more than 100 gigabases from a single flow cell. In early 2019 the line split into the P24 and the P48, which it described as supporting up to 24 and 48 flow cells.[1]
The history lists a 100,000-genome project at Grandomics in April 2019 and a population-scale program of the Abu Dhabi Department of Health on a PromethION 48 in late 2019. In December 2020 the company reported 10 terabases from a single run that used all 48 flow cells.[1]
In October 2022 it announced the PromethION 2, which it called "the world's first palm sized high-output sequencer".[1] The P2 Integrated, a benchtop case of 10.6 kg, carries its own computer; the P2 Solo has none and plugs into a GridION or a user's workstation.[9][10]
Use
A Stanford team ran human genomes on PromethION flow cells in a method that earned a Guinness World Record, presented in February 2022, for the fastest DNA sequencing technique: five hours and two minutes, at more than 100 gigabases an hour.[11] A letter in the New England Journal of Medicine described the method in critical care. Stanford Medicine's magazine reports a trial of 12 patients, five of whom were diagnosed with the help of the sequence.[12][13]
At Molecular Reality
Molecular Reality Corporation reads one channel where the PromethION 24 reads 72,000. The company's live stream comes from a four-channel Elements srl amplifier that its field guide says samples at 200 kHz, forty times the 5 kHz a PromethION channel works out to.[14][7] A P24 reads up to 72,000 pores at once. The stream reads one.[14]
See also
Notes
References
- ^ a b c d e f g "History". Oxford Nanopore Technologies. Retrieved October 25, 2026.
- ^ a b c "PromethION (legacy document)". Oxford Nanopore Technologies. July 7, 2026. Retrieved October 25, 2026.
- ^ "Flow cells". Oxford Nanopore Store. Retrieved October 25, 2026.
- ^ Jain, Miten et al. (2016). "The Oxford Nanopore MinION: delivery of nanopore sequencing to the genomics community". Genome Biology 17: 239. doi:10.1186/s13059-016-1103-0.
- ^ "Flow cells and nanopores". Oxford Nanopore Technologies. Retrieved October 25, 2026.
- ^ a b "PromethION". Oxford Nanopore Technologies. Retrieved October 25, 2026.
- ^ a b "Transforming basecalling in genomic sequencing". Oxford Nanopore Technologies. March 18, 2026.
- ^ "PromethION 24". Oxford Nanopore Technologies. Retrieved October 25, 2026.
- ^ a b c "PromethION 2 Integrated". Oxford Nanopore Technologies. Retrieved October 25, 2026.
- ^ "PromethION 2 Solo". Oxford Nanopore Store. Retrieved October 25, 2026.
- ^ "Guinness World Record awarded for fastest DNA sequencing". NVIDIA. February 18, 2022.
- ^ Gorzynski, John E. et al. (2022). "Ultrarapid nanopore genome sequencing in a critical care setting". New England Journal of Medicine 386 (7): 700-702. doi:10.1056/NEJMc2112090.
- ^ "Speedy genome sequencing helps guide quicker care decisions". Stanford Medicine. Retrieved October 25, 2026.
- ^ a b "Keltar's Field Guide to Molecular Reality". Molecular Reality Corporation. August 2026.