Electrokinetic-flow-induced viscous drag on a tethered DNA inside a nanopore

Recent work has shown that the resistive force arising from viscous effects within the pore region could explain observed translocation times in certain experiments involving voltage-driven translocations of DNA through nanopores [Ghosal, Phys. Rev. E 71, 051904 (2006); Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 238104 (2007)]. The electrokinetic flow inside the pore and the accompanying viscous effects also play a crucial role in the interpretation of experiments where the DNA is immobilized inside a nanopore [Keyser, Nat. Phys. 2, 473 (2006)]. In this paper the viscous force is explicitly calculated for a nanopore of cylindrical geometry. It is found that the reductions of the tether force due to viscous drag and due to charge reduction by Manning condensation are of similar size. The result is of importance in the interpretation of experimental data on tethered DNA.