title: Stochastic sensing on a modular chip containing a single-ion channel.
abstract: Engineered protein channels have many potential applications in biosensing at the single-molecule level. A future generation of biosensor could be an array of target-specific ion channels, where each protein pore acts as a sensor element. An important step toward this goal is to create a portable, durable, single-protein channel-integrated chip device. Here we report a versatile, modular chip that contains a single-ion channel for single-molecular biosensing. The core of the device is a long-lived lipid membrane that has been sandwiched between two air-insulated agarose layers which gel in situ. A single-protein pore embedded in the membrane serves as the sensor element. The modular device is highly portable, allowing a single-ion channel to continuously function following detachment of the chip from the instrument and independent transportation of the device. The chip also exhibits high durability, which is evidenced from long-duration continuous observation of single-channel dynamics. Once engineered protein pores are installed, the chip becomes a robust stochastic sensor for real-time targeting such as detection of the second messenger IP3. This pluggable biochip could be incorporated with many applicable devices, such as a microfluidic system, and be made into a microarray for both biomedical detection and membrane protein research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Engineering and Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211, USA.
authors.forename: Ji Wook
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Shim
authors.forename: Li Qun
authors.initials: LQ
authors.lastname: Gu
mesh_terms: D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000378:metabolism*; D013269:Stochastic Processes; D013379:Substrate Specificity
chemical_list: D007473:Ion Channels