Influence of the environment and probes on rapid DNA sequencing via transverse electronic transport

TL;DR

This theoretical study explores how environmental factors and detection probes influence the ability to rapidly sequence DNA using transverse electronic transport in nanopores, highlighting the robustness of base distinguishability under various conditions.

Contribution

The paper demonstrates that intrinsic electrode bandwidth and probe-induced stabilization enable effective DNA base detection despite environmental variations.

Findings

Electrode bandwidth aids base detection by averaging current distributions.

Base distinguishability remains stable across different pore sizes and fields.

Water and ions screen nucleotide charge, minimally affecting current.

Abstract

We study theoretically the feasibility of using transverse electronic transport within a nanopore for rapid DNA sequencing. Specifically, we examine the effects of the environment and detection probes on the distinguishability of the DNA bases. We find that the intrinsic measurement bandwidth of the electrodes helps the detection of single bases by averaging over the current distributions of each base. We also find that although the overall magnitude of the current may change dramatically with different detection conditions, the intrinsic distinguishability of the bases is not significantly affected by pore size and transverse field strength. The latter is the result of very effective stabilization of the DNA by the transverse field induced by the probes, so long as that field is much larger than the field that drives DNA through the pore. In addition, the ions and water together effectively screen the charge on the nucleotides, so that the electron states participating in the transport properties of the latter ones resemble those of the uncharged species. Finally, water in the environment has negligible direct influence on the transverse electrical current.