Issue 1, 2024

Optical single molecule characterisation of natural and synthetic polymers through nanopores

Abstract

Nanopore techniques are now widely used to sequence DNA, RNA and even oligopeptide molecules at the base pair level by measuring the ionic current. In order to build a more versatile characterisation system, optical methods for the detection of a single molecule translocating through a nanopore have been developed, achieving very promising results. In this work, we developed a series of tools to interpret the optical signals in terms of the physical behaviour of various types of natural and synthetic polymers, with high throughput. We show that the measurement of the characteristic time of a translocation event gives access to the apparent molecular weight of an object, and allows us to quantify the concentration ratio of two DNA samples of different molecular weights in solution. Using the same tools for smaller synthetic polymers, we were able to obtain information about their molecular weight distribution depending on the synthesis method.

Graphical abstract: Optical single molecule characterisation of natural and synthetic polymers through nanopores

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 sep 2023
Accepted
20 nov 2023
First published
20 nov 2023

Nanoscale, 2024,16, 138-151

Optical single molecule characterisation of natural and synthetic polymers through nanopores

C. de Blois, M. Engel, M. Rejou, B. Molcrette, A. Favier and F. Montel, Nanoscale, 2024, 16, 138 DOI: 10.1039/D3NR04915A

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