Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 5, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5171
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- NSF [CBET0846505, PHYS1058375]
- Brown University Institute for Molecular and Nanoscale Innovation
- Division Of Physics
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien [1058375] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Div Of Chem, Bioeng, Env, & Transp Sys
- Directorate For Engineering [0846505] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The ionic conductance through a nanometer-sized pore in a membrane changes when a biopolymer slides through it, making nanopores sensitive to single molecules in solution. Their possible use for sequencing has motivated numerous studies on how DNA, a semiflexible polymer, translocates nanopores. Here we study voltage-driven dynamics of the stiff filamentous virus fd with experiments and simulations to investigate the basic physics of polymer translocations. We find that the electric field distribution aligns an approaching fd with the nanopore, promoting its capture, but it also pulls fd sideways against the membrane after failed translocation attempts until thermal fluctuations reorient the virus for translocation. fd is too stiff to translocate in folded configurations. It therefore translocates linearly, exhibiting a voltage-independent mobility and obeying first-passage-time statistics. Surprisingly, lengthwise Brownian motion only partially accounts for the translocation velocity fluctuations. We also observe a voltage-dependent contribution whose origin is only partially determined.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available