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Published on: October 31, 2013
Ab initio electron propagator calculations of transverse conduction through DNA nucleotide bases in 1-nm nanopore
Aleksey A Kletsov1, Evgeny G Glukhovskoy1, Aleksey S Chumakov1
1Educational Research Institute of Nanostructures and Biosystems, Saratov State University, Astrakhanskaya 83, Saratov, Russia; Department of Nano- and Biomedical Technologies, Saratov State University, Astrakhanskaya 83, Saratov, Russia.
Background:
The conduction properties of DNA molecule, particularly its transverse conductance (electron transfer through nucleotide bridges), represent a point of interest for DNA chemistry community, especially for DNA sequencing. However, there is no fully developed first-principles theory for molecular conductance and current that allows one to analyze the transverse flow of electrical charge through a nucleotide base.
Methods:
We theoretically investigate the transverse electron transport through all four DNA nucleotide bases by implementing an unbiased ab initio theoretical approach, namely, the electron propagator theory.
Results:
The electrical conductance and current through DNA nucleobases (guanine [G], cytosine [C], adenine [A] and thymine [T]) inserted into a model 1-nm Ag-Ag nanogap are calculated. The magnitudes of the calculated conductance and current are ordered in the following hierarchies: gA>gG>gC>gT and IG>IA>IT>IC correspondingly. The new distinguishing parameter for the nucleobase identification is proposed, namely, the onset bias magnitude. Nucleobases exhibit the following hierarchy with respect to this parameter: Vonset(A)
Conclusions:
The difference in current magnitudes and onset voltages implies the possibility of nucleobases electrical identification by virtue of DNA translocation through an electrode-equipped nanopore.
General Significance:
The results represent interest for the theorists and practitioners in the field of third generation sequencing techniques as well as in the field of DNA chemistry.
