Work

Controlled Translocation of Proteins through a Biological Nanopore for Single-Protein Fingerprint Identification

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: After the successful sequencing of nucleic acids, nanopore technology has now been applied to proteins. Recently, it has been demonstrated that an electro-osmotic flow can be used to induce the transport of unraveled polypeptides across nanopores. Polypeptide translocation, however, is too fast for accurate reading its amino acid compositions. Here, we show that the introduction of hydrophobic residues into the lumen of the nanopore reduces the protein translocation speed. Importantly, the introduction of a tyrosine at the entry of the nanopore and an isoleucine at the entry of the β-barrel of the nanopore reduced the speed of translocation to ∼10 amino acids/millisecond while keeping a relatively large ionic current, a crucial component for protein identification. These nanopores showed unique features within their current signatures, which may pave the way toward protein fingerprinting using nanopores.

Source: Nano Letters

DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c04510

Authors: Adina Sauciuc, Giovanni Maglia

Institution: University of Groningen

Language: English

Topic: Nanopore and Nanochannel Transport Studies

Subfield: Biomedical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,500

Funders: Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, National Human Genome Research Institute