Abstract
Most experiments on nanopores have concentrated on the pore-forming protein α-haemolysin (αHL)1 and on artificial pores in solid-state membranes2. While biological pores offer an atomically precise structure3 and the potential for genetic engineering 4, solid-state nanopores offer durability, size and shape control5, and are also better suited for integration into wafer-scale devices. However, each system has significant limitations: αHL is difficult to integrate because it relies on delicate lipid bilayers for mechanical support, and the fabrication of solid-state nanopores with precise dimensions remains challenging. Here we show that these limitations may be overcome by inserting a single αHL pore into a solid-state nanopore. A double-stranded DNA attached to the protein pore is threaded into a solid-state nanopore by electrophoretic translocation. Protein insertion is observed in 30-40% of our attempts, and translocation of single-stranded DNA demonstrates that the hybrid nanopore remains functional. The hybrid structure offers a platform to create wafer-scale device arrays for genomic analysis, including sequencing6.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 874-877 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Nature Nanotechnology |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2010 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 201418 (READNA), the NanoSci Eþ program and the European Research Council. K.M. was supported by a Whitaker Foundation fellowship. The authors wish to thank M. Salichou for assistance with engineering of the αHL proteins.