Translocation of Proteins through Solid-State Nanopores Using DNA Polyhedral Carriers

The detection of biomolecules at the single molecule level has important applications in the fields of biosensing and biomedical diagnosis. The solid-state nanopore (SS nanopore) is a sensitive tool for detecting single molecules because of its unique label-free and low sample consumption properties. SS nanopore translocation of small biomolecules is typically driven by an electronic field force and is thus influenced by the charge, shape, and size of the target molecules. Therefore, it remains challenging to control the translocation of biomolecules through SS nanopores, particularly for different proteins with complex conformations and unique charges. Toward this problem, a DNA polyhedral carrier coating strategy to assist protein translocation through SS nanopores is developed, which facilitates target protein detection. The current signal-to-noise ratios are improved significantly using this DNA carrier loading strategy. The proposed method should aid the detection of proteins, which are difficult to translocate through nanopores. This coating-assisted method offers a wide range of applications for SS nanopore detection and promotes the development of single-molecule detection.