Hu Qiu, Aditya Sarathy, Jean-Pierre Leburton, and Klaus Schulten.
Intrinsic stepwise translocation of stretched ssDNA in graphene
nanopores.
Nano Letters, 15:8322-8330, 2015.
(PMC: PMC4676420)
QIU2015
We investigate by means of molecular dynamics simulations stretch-induced stepwise
translocation of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) through graphene nanopores. The intrinsic
stepwise DNA motion, found to be largely independent of size and shape of the graphene
nanopore, is brought about through alternating conformational changes between
spontaneous adhesion of DNA bases to the rim of the graphene nanopore and unbinding
due to mechanical force or electric field. The adhesion reduces the DNA bases' vertical
conformational fluctuations, facilitating base detection and recognition. A graphene
membrane shaped as a quantum point contact permits, by means of transverse electronic
conductance measurement, detection of the stepwise translocation of the DNA as predicted
through quantum mechanical Green's function-based transport calculations. The
measurement scheme described opens a route to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio by not
only slowing down DNA translocation to provide sufficient time for base recognition, but
also by stabilizing single DNA bases and, thereby, reducing thermal noise.
Download Full Text
The manuscripts available on our site are provided for your personal
use only and may not be retransmitted or redistributed without written
permissions from the paper's publisher and author. You may not upload any
of this site's material to any public server, on-line service, network, or
bulletin board without prior written permission from the publisher and
author. You may not make copies for any commercial purpose. Reproduction
or storage of materials retrieved from this web site is subject to the
U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, Title 17 U.S.C.
