An official website of the United States government
Here’s how you know
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Driven DNA Transport Into an Asymmetric Nanometer-Scale Pore
Published
Author(s)
S. E. Henrickson, Martin Misakian, B Robertson, John J. Kasianowicz
Abstract
To understand the mechanism by which individual DNA molecules partition into a nanometer-scale pore, we studied the concentration and voltage dependence of polynucleotide-induced current blockades of single a-hemolysin ionic channels. At fixed single-stranded DNA concentration and magnitude of the applied transmembrane potential, DNA enters more readily from one side of the pore than the other. We show that the blockade frequency increases exponentially as a function of the applied potential and is proportional to the polymer concentration. We directly measure the value of the electrical potential that confines a modified version of the polymer inside the nanopore against random diffusion and repulsive forces. We also show that a minimum length polynucleotide is required for the polymer and the pore to interact for times that exceed the diffusion limit. Several candidate models for the interactions between polynucleotides and the pore are discussed.
Citation
Physical Review Letters
Volume
85
Issue
14
Pub Type
Journals
Keywords
DNA, ion channel, polymer, polynucleotide, transport
Henrickson, S.
, Misakian, M.
, Robertson, B.
and Kasianowicz, J.
(2000),
Driven DNA Transport Into an Asymmetric Nanometer-Scale Pore, Physical Review Letters
(Accessed November 28, 2023)