Unzipping kinetics of duplex DNA containing oxidized lesions in an α-hemolysin nanopore

The unzipping kinetics for lesion-containing DNA duplexes was studied in an α-hemolysin (α-HL) nanopore. The lesion of focus was the guanine two-electron oxidation product, 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine (OG), and its further oxidation products, the hydantoins guanidinohydantoin (Gh) and spiroiminodihydantoin (Sp). The voltage-driven unzipping of individual duplex DNA molecules with symmetrical overhangs was carried out by pulling one strand of the duplex through the α-HL channel using an electrical field. Entry from the 3' or 5' end produced distinct current blockages, allowing directional effects on unzipping kinetics to be investigated. We find that the strand dissociation of complementary duplexes or duplexes containing the slightly destabilizing lesion OG follows a first-order kinetic model, while opening of duplexes that contain the highly destabilizing lesions Gh or Sp is described by two sequential first-order reactions, in which the intermediate state is proposed to correspond to the duplex unzipped to the lesion site within the channel. The rate constants for strand separation of the duplexes containing single lesions were obtained from kinetic model fits to histograms of unzipping duration. For all duplexes, the rate constants for strand separation displayed a significant dependence on the direction of entry into the nanopore. For duplexes containing Gh, truncated duplexes were used to assign the measured rate constants for the first and second unzipping steps of symmetrically designed duplexes.