Tetramethylammonium-Filled Protein Nanopore for Single-Molecule Analysis

Nanopore technology, as the simplest and most inexpensive single-molecule tool, is being intensively developed. In nanopore stochastic sensing, KCl and NaCl have traditionally been employed as pore-filled electrolytes for recording the change of ion conductance in nanopores triggered by analyte translocation through the pore. However, some challenges limit its further advance. Here we used tetramethylammonium (TMA) chloride, instead of KCl, as a novel analysis system for nanopores. Some unique nanopore characteristics were observed: (1) The stability of the planar lipid bilayer for embedding the protein pores was elevated at least 6 times. (2) The TMA-Cl system could effectively reduce the noise of single-channel recording. (3) It was easy to control the insertion of protein pores into the lipid bilayer, and the formed single nanopore could last for a sufficiently long time. (4) TMA-Cl could be used as a DNA speed bump in the nanopore to slow DNA translocation speed. (5) The capacity of the nanopore capture of DNA (capture rate) increased significantly and simultaneously increased the translocation time of DNA in the pore. (6) The TMA-filled nanopore could discriminate between various polynucleotides.