title: Control and reversal of the electrophoretic force on DNA in a charged nanopore.
abstract: Electric field driven transport of DNA through solid-state nanopores is the key process in nanopore-based DNA sequencing that promises dramatic reduction of genome sequencing costs. A major hurdle in the development of this sequencing method is that DNA transport through the nanopores occurs too quickly for the DNA sequence to be detected. By means of all-atom molecular dynamics simulations, we demonstrate that the velocity of DNA transport through a nanopore can be controlled by the charge state of the nanopore surface. In particular, we show that the charge density of the nanopore surface controls the magnitude and/or direction of the electro-osmotic flow through the nanopore and thereby can significantly reduce or even reverse the effective electrophoretic force on DNA. Our work suggests a physical mechanism to control DNA transport in a nanopore by chemical, electrical or electrochemical modification of the nanopore surface.
authors.affiliation: T J Watson Research Center, IBM, 1101 Kitchawan Road, Yorktown Heights, NY, USA. bluan@us.ibm.com
authors.forename: Binquan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Luan
authors.forename: Aleksei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aksimentiev
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D004586:Electrophoresis / Q000379:methods*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D016062:Porosity; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000379:methods*; D055672:Static Electricity; D013314:Stress, Mechanical
chemical_list: D004247:DNA