Electrophoresis and Electroosmosis in Aerolysin and Hemolysin Nanopores

Archive ouverte

Boukhet, Mordjane | Pelta, Juan | Behrends, Jan C. | Oukhaled, Abdelghani

Edité par CCSD ; Biophysical Society -

Voltage-dependent interaction of macromolecules with biological nanopores can arise from electroosmotic (EOF) or electrophoretic (EPF) forces. Both poly(ethylene-glycol) (PEG), and cyclodextrins (β- and α-CD, respectively) block the ionic current through α-hemolysin (αHL) and Aerolysin (AeL) pore-forming proteins with well-documented voltage-dependence. Here, we attempt to relate differential effects of the electrolytes KCl and LiCl on the voltage-dependence of frequency and dwell-time of blocks to the relative contributions of EOF and EPF.For AeL, irrespective of electrolyte, blocks by α-CD only occurred from the pore's cis-side and with trans-positive voltages. Blocks in LiCl were much longer than those in KCl (11ms vs. 760μs at 90mV) but dwell times showed a positive, linear voltage dependence in both cases (LiCl:6fold/100mV; KCl:3fold/100mV). In KCl, cis-side PEG blocked AeL with trans-negative voltages only.1 Surprisingly, in LiCl, blocks occurred only at trans-positive voltages and at more than 1000 fold PEG-concentration but we still are in a very diluted regime. Blocks were shorter than in KCl by a factor of 5 (60 vs. 320μs at 100mV), but frequency (3fold/100mV) and dwell time (2fold/100mV) depended linearly on voltage, reminiscent of the behavior of α-CD in both electrolytes.Linear voltage dependence of block frequency might indicate dominance of EOF for pore entry of PEG in LiCl and for α-CD generally, while an exponential voltage-dependence would be expected for an electrophoretic force. Indeed, for PEG in KCl, which may be positively charged due to K+-chelation (see Ref.1 for discussion), we found an exponential increase in frequency for blocks of AeL and αHL with increasing trans-negative and trans-positive voltages, respectively. We cannot, however, exclude voltage and ion-dependent effects on the binding reaction, which, rather than partitioning, may be rate-limiting for the electrophysiologically detectable blockages.

Consulter en ligne

Suggestions

Du même auteur

High Temperature Extends the Range of Size Discrimination of Nonionic Polymers by a Biological Nanopore

Archive ouverte | Piguet, Fabien | CCSD

International audience. We explore the effect of temperature on the interaction of polydisperse mixtures of nonionic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) polymers of different average molar masses with the biological nanopor...

Probing driving forces in aerolysin and α-hemolysin biological nanopores: electrophoresis versus electroosmosis

Archive ouverte | Boukhet, Mordjane | CCSD

International audience. The transport of macromolecules through nanopores is involved in many biological functions and is today at the basis of promising technological applications. Nevertheless the interpretation o...

Dynamics and Energy Contributions for Transport of Unfolded Pertactin through a Protein Nanopore

Archive ouverte | Cressiot, Benjamin | CCSD

International audience. To evaluate the physical parameters governing translocation of an unfolded protein across a lipid bilayer, we studied protein transport through aerolysin, a passive protein channel, at the si...

Chargement des enrichissements...