No Arabic abstract
We present a simplified model of the dynamics of translocation of RNA through a nanopore which only allows the passage of unbound nucleotides. In particular, we consider the disorder averaged translocation dynamics of random, two-component, single-stranded nucleotides, by reducing the dynamics to the motion of a random walker on a one-dimensional free energy landscape of translocation. These translocation landscapes are calculated from the folds of the RNA sequences and the voltage bias applied across the nanopore. We compute these landscapes for 1500 randomly drawn two-letter sequences of length 4000. Simulations of the dynamics on these landscapes display anomalous characteristics, similar to random forcing energy landscapes, where the translocation process proceeds slower than linearly in time for sufficiently small voltage biases across the nanopore, but moves linearly in time at large voltage biases. We argue that our simplified model provides an upper bound to the more realistic translocation dynamics, and thus we expect that all RNA translocation models will exhibit anomalous regimes.
We investigate the translocation of a single stranded DNA through a pore which fluctuates between two conformations, using coupled master equations. The probability density function of the first passage times (FPT) of the translocation process is calculated, displaying a triple, double or mono peaked behavior, depending on the interconversion rates between the conformations, the applied electric field, and the initial conditions. The cumulative probability function of the FPT, in a field-free environment, is shown to have two regimes, characterized by fast and slow timescales. An analytical expression for the mean first passage time of the translocation process is derived, and provides, in addition to the interconversion rates, an extensive characterization of the translocation process. Relationships to experimental observations are discussed.
Solid-state nanopores are single molecule sensors that measure changes in ionic current as charged polymers such as DNA pass through. Here, we present comprehensive experiments on the length, voltage and salt dependence of the frequency of double-stranded DNA translocations through conical quartz nanopores with mean opening diameter 15 nm. We observe an entropic barrier limited, length dependent translocation frequency at 4M LiCl salt concentration and a drift-dominated, length independent translocation frequency at 1M KCl salt concentration. These observations are described by a unifying convection-diffusion equation which includes the contribution of an entropic barrier for polymer entry.
Using Langevin dynamics simulations, we investigate the dynamics of polymer translocation into a circular nanocontainer through a nanopore under a driving force $F$. We observe that the translocation probability initially increases and then saturates with increasing $F$, independent of $phi$, which is the average density of the whole chain in the nanocontainer. The translocation time distribution undergoes a transition from a Gaussian distribution to an asymmetric distribution with increasing $phi$. Moreover, we find a nonuniversal scaling exponent of the translocation time as chain length, depending on $phi$ and $F$. These results are interpreted by the conformation of the translocated chain in the nanocontainer and the time of an individual segment passing through the pore during translocation.
Using Langevin dynamics simulations, we investigate the dynamics of chaperone-assisted translocation of a flexible polymer through a nanopore. We find that increasing the binding energy $epsilon$ between the chaperone and the chain and the chaperone concentration $N_c$ can greatly improve the translocation probability. Particularly, with increasing the chaperone concentration a maximum translocation probability is observed for weak binding. For a fixed chaperone concentration, the histogram of translocation time $tau$ has a transition from long-tailed distribution to Gaussian distribution with increasing $epsilon$. $tau$ rapidly decreases and then almost saturates with increasing binding energy for short chain, however, it has a minimum for longer chains at lower chaperone concentration. We also show that $tau$ has a minimum as a function of the chaperone concentration. For different $epsilon$, a nonuniversal dependence of $tau$ on the chain length $N$ is also observed. These results can be interpreted by characteristic entropic effects for flexible polymers induced by either crowding effect from high chaperone concentration or the intersegmental binding for the high binding energy.
We investigate the dynamics of DNA translocation through a nanopore driven by an external force using Langevin dynamics simulations in two dimensions (2D) to study how the translocation dynamics depend on the details of the DNA sequences. We consider a coarse-grained model of DNA built from two bases $A$ and $C$, having different base-pore interactions, {textit e.g.}, a strong (weak) attractive force between the pore and the base $A$ ($C$) inside the pore. From a series of studies on hetero-DNAs with repeat units $A_mC_n$, we find that the translocation time decreases exponentially as a function of the volume fraction $f_C$ of the base $C$. %($epsilon_{pC} < epsilon_{pA}$). For longer $A$ sequences with $f_C le 0.5$, the translocation time strongly depends on the orientation of DNA, namely which base enters the pore first. Our studies clearly demonstrate that for a DNA of certain length $N$ with repeat units $A_mC_n$, the pattern exhibited by the waiting times of the individual bases and their periodicity can unambiguously determine the values of $m$, $n$ and $N$ respectively. Therefore, a prospective experimental realization of this phenomenon may lead to fast and efficient sequence detection technic.