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Crowding-Induced DNA Translocation through a Protein Nanopore
Fujun Yao1, Xiao Peng1, Zhuoqun Su1
1Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Natural Functional Molecular Chemistry, College of Chemistry & Materials Science, Northwest University, Xi'an 710069, P. R. China.
Analytical Chemistry
|February 13, 2020
Summary
Molecular crowding significantly impacts DNA translocation through nanopores. Increased crowder concentration enhances DNA capture and binding, crucial for nanopore biosensing and DNA sequencing applications.
Area of Science:
- Biophysics
- Nanotechnology
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- Cellular environments are crowded, influencing biological processes.
- The effect of molecular crowding on DNA translocation through nanopores remains unexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the thermodynamics and kinetics of DNA translocation under molecular crowding conditions.
- To quantify the impact of polyethylene glycols (PEGs) on DNA-nanopore interactions.
Main Methods:
- Utilized nanopore single-molecule analytical techniques.
- Analyzed DNA transport through pores in the presence of heterogeneous cosolute PEGs.
Main Results:
- DNA translocation frequency shows non-monotonic dependence on crowder size.
- Event frequency and translocation time increase with crowder concentration.
- PEG presence elevated DNA capture 118-fold and decreased translocation velocity.
- PEG 4k demonstrated the most significant impact on DNA-nanopore interaction, increasing binding constant 764-fold.
Conclusions:
- Molecular crowding profoundly affects DNA translocation dynamics.
- Findings have broad applications in enhancing nanopore biosensing and DNA sequencing technologies.
- Strategies for analyte capture and transport control are critical for nanopore applications.
