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Real-time identification of multiple nanoclusters with a protein nanopore in single-cluster level

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Abstract

It is important and challenging to analyze nanocluster structure with atomic precision. Herein, α-hemolysin nanopore was used to identify nanoclusters at the single molecule level by providing two-dimensional (2D) dwell time–current blockage spectra and translocation event frequency which sensitively depended on their structures. Nanoclusters such as Anderson, Keggin, Dawson, and a few lacunary Dawson polyoxometalates with very similar structures, even with only a two-atom difference, could be discriminated. This nanopore device could simultaneously measure multiple nanoclusters in a mixture qualitatively and quantitatively. Furthermore, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations provided microscopic understandings of the nanocluster translocation dynamics and yielded 2D dwell time–current blockage spectra in close agreement with experiments. The nanopore platform provides a novel powerful tool for nanocluster characterization.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2021YFA1200104), New Cornerstone Science Foundation, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 22027807, 22034004, and 22078104), the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XDB36000000), and Tsinghua-Vanke Special Fund for Public Health and Health Discipline Development (No. 2022Z82WKJ003). CPU hours allocated by the Guangzhou Supercomputer Center of China are gratefully acknowledged.

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Author notes

  1. Ling Zhang, Peilei He, and Huang Chen contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Center for BioAnalytical Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Ling Zhang, Peilei He, Qingda Liu, Xun Wang & Jinghong Li

  2. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangdong Prov Key Lab Green Chem Prod Technol, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Huang Chen & Libo Li

  3. New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Shenzhen, 518054, China

    Jinghong Li

  4. Beijing Institute of Life Science and Technology, Beijing, 102206, China

    Jinghong Li

  5. Center for BioAnalytical Chemistry, Hefei National Laboratory of Physical Science at Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Jinghong Li

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  1. Ling Zhang
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  2. Peilei He
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Correspondence to Libo Li, Xun Wang or Jinghong Li.

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Zhang, L., He, P., Chen, H. et al. Real-time identification of multiple nanoclusters with a protein nanopore in single-cluster level. Nano Res. 17, 262–269 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-5738-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-5738-3

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