A nanopore machine promotes the vectorial transport of DNA across membranes

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

The transport of nucleic acids through membrane pores is a fundamental biological process that occurs in all living organisms. It occurs, for example, during the import of viral DNA into the host cell or during the nuclear pore complex-mediated transport of mRNA in and out the cell nucleus and has implications in nucleic acid drug delivery and gene therapy. Here we describe an engineered DNA transporter that is able to recognize and chaperone a specific DNA molecule across a biological membrane under a fixed transmembrane potential. The transported DNA strand is then released by a simple mechanism based on DNA strand displacement. This nanopore machine might be used to separate or concentrate nucleic acids or to transport genetic information across biological membranes. Transport of DNA molecules across lipid membranes requires protein conduits such as the nuclear pore complex. Franceschiniet al.engineer an artificial sequence-selective DNA transporter by attaching gating oligonucleotides to a bacterial nanopore.