Self-energy limited ion transport in sub-nanometer channels
Soft Condensed Matter
2009-11-11 v2 Subcellular Processes
Abstract
The current-voltage characteristics of the alpha-Hemolysin protein pore during the passage of single-stranded DNA under varying ionic strength, C, are studied experimentally. We observe strong blockage of the current, weak super-linear growth of the current as a function of voltage, and a minimum of the current as a function of C. These observations are interpreted as the result of the ion electrostatic self-energy barrier originating from the large difference in the dielectric constants of water and the lipid bilayer. The dependence of DNA capture rate on C also agrees with our model.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0604148,
title = {Self-energy limited ion transport in sub-nanometer channels},
author = {Douwe Jan Bonthuis and Jingshan Zhang and Breton Hornblower and Jerome Mathe and Boris I. Shklovskii and Amit Meller},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0604148},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
more experimental material is added. 4 pages, 7 figures