Hybrid Nanopores for Single-Molecule Sensing

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Stochastic sensing with nanopores is a versatile technology that can be used for the recognition and quantification of a wide range of substances (known as analytes) through the detection of individual molecules. Our partner company, Oxford Nanopore Technologies, has been incorporating stochastic sensing into next-generation hand-held devices. The most highly developed application at Oxford Nanopore is cheap, extremely rapid DNA sequencing, which promises to revolutionise numerous areas of biology including aspects of medicine, ancestry and forensics. Currently, a portable sequencer is being tested at hundreds of sites worldwide. In stochastic sensing, analytes are detected as they enter and leave a single narrow pore perturbing a current that flows through it. The diameters of the pores, known as nanopores, are similar to those of a small molecule, about one-fifty thousandth of the diameter of a human hair, providing the basis for detection by current perturbation. Typically current changes of the order of one trillionth of an ampere are measured. Analytes have included drug molecules and small molecules found in the body that act as markers for disease. In the case of DNA sequencing, individual bases are detected as an extended DNA strand is threaded through a nanopore. Protein pores are advantageous for stochastic sensing, because they can be modified for particular applications with atomic precision and prepared in near homogeneous form. Until now, very narrow protein pores have been used and therefore stochastic sensing has been limited to analytes of small size or, in the case of DNA, to extended polymer chains. In the proposed work, we will endeavour to make a new class of functional nanopores, DNA-Protein hybrid nanopores. These pores will be constructed from folded DNA, known as DNA origami, and protein components. The DNA will act as a scaffold for the protein, ensuring that the new pores are up to fifteen times larger in internal diameter than the pores used before. Further, each pore will be of identical size and no incompletes pores will be present, a goal that has not be achieved previously. Finally, it will be possible to modify the new pores at precisely determined sites, which cannot be done with competing technologies, such as solid-state pores. The DNA-protein hybrid nanopores will enable a critical step forward for stochastic sensing by allowing the detection of a wide range of large biological molecules that can enter the pores, including proteins, DNAs and polymeric sugars. Conversely, it will also be possible to lodge these large molecules within the hybrid pores, where they will act as binding sites for a variety of additional analytes. In a futuristic application, it may prove possible to sequence double-stranded DNAs with hybrid pores, which will provide a significant advantage over the manipulations currently required for nanopore sequencing. Our industrial partner, Oxford Nanopore, will evaluate and test our most promising DNA-protein hybrid nanopores in their hand-held sensing devices, which are capable of monitoring the outputs of hundreds of pores in parallel, offering the prospect of step changes in sensing technology in areas including biological warfare defense, food authentication, plant and animal breeding and medical diagnostics.