Decoding Complex Electrical Signals Produced By The DNA Translocating Through A Solid State Nanopore

Maria Gracheva, Beckman Institute, UIUC

We evaluate the magnitude of the electrical signals produced by DNA translocation through a 1-nm diameter nanopore in the capacitor membrane with a numerical multi-scale approach, and assess the possibility of resolving individual nucleotides as well as their types. Further, we study the effect of a single base substitution on the voltage trace, and calculate the differences among the voltage traces due to a single base mutation. The calculated maximum voltage caused by the translocation of individual bases varies from 2 to 9~mV, which is experimentally detectable. Our research compliments the ongoing experiments exploring the use of nanopores in a MOS capacitor membrane for DNA sequencing.