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Full Width at Half Maximum of Nanopore Current Blockage Controlled by a Single-Biomolecule Interface.
Jun-Ge Li1, Meng-Yin Li1,2, Xin-Yi Li1
1State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, People's Republic of China.
Langmuir : the ACS Journal of Surfaces and Colloids
|January 12, 2022
Summary
Researchers controlled the full width at half maximum (fwhm) of nanopore current blockage by modifying the interface. This improved DNA identification and revealed a correlation between fwhm and molecule duration in nanopore sensing.
Area of Science:
- Nanopore sensing
- Single-molecule analysis
- Biophysics
Background:
- Biological nanopores offer label-free, single-molecule analysis by measuring current blockage.
- Nanopore resolution is significantly influenced by the fluctuation of current blockage, specifically the full width at half maximum (fwhm).
- Controlling fwhm is crucial for enhancing nanopore sensing capabilities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the precise control of the functional group at the single-biomolecule interface in an aerolysin nanopore.
- To determine the effect of controlling fwhm on DNA identification and molecule duration within the nanopore.
- To establish and clarify the correlation between fwhm and molecule duration.
Main Methods:
- Utilized an aerolysin nanopore as a model system.
- Precisely controlled the functional group at the single-biomolecule interface.
- Analyzed current blockage events and their associated durations for DNA molecules.
- Investigated different mutant aerolysins for DNA sensing.
Main Results:
- Successfully narrowed the fwhm of nanopore current blockage for DNA identification.
- Prolonged the duration of DNA molecules within the nanopore.
- Established a substantial, non-monotonic correlation between fwhm and molecule duration.
- Demonstrated the uniform applicability of this correlation across different aerolysin mutants.
Conclusions:
- Precise control of the nanopore interface can regulate molecular sensing parameters like fwhm and duration.
- The established correlation between fwhm and duration offers a new strategy for enhancing nanopore resolution.
- This approach can guide the analysis of heterogeneity in single-molecule studies using nanopores.
