Glossary

Principle of nanopore sequencing. Source: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

Glossary is part of the Nanopore Wiki learning path. This glossary defines common terms used in nanopore technology, sequencing, signal analysis, and experimental workflows.

Core concepts

• Open-pore current: baseline current through an unoccupied pore.
• Blockade depth: the magnitude of current reduction or signal shift during an event.
• Dwell time: the duration for which a molecule produces a detectable event.
• Basecalling: conversion of nanopore raw signal into nucleotide sequence and quality values.
• POD5, FAST5, FASTQ, and BAM: common file formats in Oxford Nanopore workflows.

How to use this page

Step	Description
1	Use definitions to keep wording consistent across pages.
2	Prefer exact terms such as open-pore current, blockade event, and Q score.
3	When a term has platform-specific meaning, state the platform explicitly.

Typical applications

• Quick reference for new readers.
• Editorial consistency across translated pages.
• Support for classroom and laboratory onboarding.

Common pitfalls

• Using sequencing terms for non-sequencing nanopore experiments without qualification.
• Translating file formats or instrument names that should remain unchanged.

Related pages

• Introduction
• Bioinformatics
• Data analysis
• Nanopore sequencing

References

• Oxford Nanopore file formats
• FASTQ format