Tuning Interfacial Biomolecule Interactions with Massively Parallel Nanopore Arrays

DNA以非常高的密度存储生物信息。在过去20年里出现的基因组学和基因工程的新工具，提供了“读”DNA和“写”DNA的变革性能力。诊断疾病和预测治疗反应的新型生物传感器可以基于“读取”DNA，例如，开发新的抗虫害作物可以基于“写入”DNA。虽然DNA在活细胞内受到保护，但当它暴露在细胞外的环境中时，它相对不稳定。这项工作将促进我们对DNA如何与一类具有DNA大小的纳米孔的新材料相互作用的理解。这些孔的化学成分可以进行调整，以优化与DNA的相互作用，以便存储、稳定和报告特定的化学结合事件。在未来的工作中，这些材料可能被用来开发新的生物传感器和先进的纳米材料，这些材料可以存储DNA或通过受控的DNA结合来传递机械和化学信号。我们将通过原子力显微镜和吸附等温线测量来研究短DNA片段与交联蛋白质晶体的表面和孔的相互作用。DNA在纳米孔内的扩散将用荧光显微镜方法来表征。最后，我们将评估蛋白质晶体的能力：稳定客体DNA，将DNA-孔相互作用偶联到蛋白质晶体表面的配体上，以及通过荧光报告DNA杂交。

DNA stores biological information with a very high density. New tools of genomics and genetic engineering that have emerged over the past 20 years, providing the transformative capabilities to both "read" DNA, and to "write" DNA. New biosensors that diagnose diseases and predict responses to treatments can be based on "reading" DNA, and development of new pest-resistant crops, for example, can be based on "writing" DNA. While DNA is protected when inside living cells, it is relatively unstable when exposed to environments outside of cells. This work will advance our understanding of how DNA interacts with a new class of materials with DNA-sized, nanoscale pores. The chemistry of these pores can be tuned to optimize interactions with DNA, for storage, stability, and for reporting specific chemical binding events. In future work, these materials could be used to develop new biosensors and advanced nanomaterials that could store DNA or transduce mechanical and chemical signals through controlled DNA binding. We will study the interactions of short DNA segments with the surfaces and pores of crosslinked protein crystals, by atomic force microscopy and adsorption isotherm measurements. Diffusion of DNA within nanopores will be characterized by fluorescence microscopy methods. Finally, we will assess the ability of protein crystals to: stabilize guest DNA, couple DNA-pore interactions to ligand binding on the protein crystal surface, and report DNA hybridization through fluorescence.