Nanopore detection using supercharged polypeptide molecular carriers
File(s)jacs.2c13465.pdf (21.83 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The analysis at the single-molecule level of proteins and their interactions can provide critical information for understanding biological processes and diseases, particularly for proteins present in biological samples with low copy numbers. Nanopore sensing is an analytical technique that allows label-free detection of single proteins in solution and is ideally suited to applications, such as studying protein-protein interactions, biomarker screening, drug discovery, and even protein sequencing. However, given the current spatiotemporal limitations in protein nanopore sensing, challenges remain in controlling protein translocation through a nanopore and relating protein structures and functions with nanopore readouts. Here, we demonstrate that supercharged unstructured polypeptides (SUPs) can be genetically fused with proteins of interest and used as molecular carriers to facilitate nanopore detection of proteins. We show that cationic SUPs can substantially slow down the translocation of target proteins due to their electrostatic interactions with the nanopore surface. This approach enables the differentiation of individual proteins with different sizes and shapes via characteristic subpeaks in the nanopore current, thus facilitating a viable route to use polypeptide molecular carriers to control molecular transport and as a potential system to study protein-protein interactions at the single-molecule level.
Date Issued
2023-03-22
Date Acceptance
2023-03-01
Citation
Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2023, 145 (11), pp.6371-6382
ISSN
0002-7863
Publisher
American Chemical Society
Start Page
6371
End Page
6382
Journal / Book Title
Journal of the American Chemical Society
Volume
145
Issue
11
Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society. This work is published under a CC BY licence.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36897933
Subjects
Amino Acid Sequence
Nanopores
Nanotechnology
Peptides
Proteins
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
United States
Date Publish Online
2023-03-10