Sequencing of semiflexible polymers of varying bending rigidity using patterned pores

TL;DR

This study uses simulations to explore how patterned pores affect the translocation of semiflexible polymers, revealing that pore patterning combined with polymer stiffness variations can be exploited for high-accuracy sequencing of heteropolymers.

Contribution

It introduces a novel sequencing strategy leveraging pore patterning and polymer stiffness heterogeneity to accurately determine polymer sequences.

Findings

Pore patterning significantly influences translocation time dynamics.

Variation in polymer stiffness and orientation causes large translocation time differences.

The proposed method can predict heteropolymer sequences with high accuracy.

Abstract

We study the translocation of a semiflexible polymer through extended pores with patterned stickiness, using Langevin dynamics simulations. We find that the consequence of pore patterning on the translocation time dynamics is dramatic and depends strongly on the interplay of polymer stiffness and pore-polymer interactions. For heterogeneous polymers with periodically varying stiffness along their lengths, we find that variation of the block size of the sequences and the orientation, results in large variations in the translocation time distributions. We show how this fact may be utilized to develop an effective sequencing strategy. This strategy involving multiple pores with patterned surface energetics, can predict heteropolymer sequences having different bending rigidity to a high degree of accuracy.