(225g) N-Terminal Derivatization-Assisted Identification of Individual Amino Acids Using a Biological Nanopore Sensor | AIChE

(225g) N-Terminal Derivatization-Assisted Identification of Individual Amino Acids Using a Biological Nanopore Sensor

Authors 

Wei, X. - Presenter, UNIV OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Liu, C. - Presenter, University of South Carolina
Ma, D., Xiamen University
Wang, Q., University of South Carolina
Nanopore technology has been employed as a powerful tool for DNA sequencing and analysis. To extend this method to peptide sequencing, a necessary step is to profile individual amino acids (AAs) through their nanopore stochastic signals, which remains a great challenge due to the low signal-to-noise ratio and unpredictable conformational changes of AAs during their translocation through nanopores. We showed that the combination of an N-terminal derivatization strategy of AAs with nanopore technology could lead to effective in situ differentiation of AAs. Four different derivatization reactions have been tested with five selected AAs, i.e. Ala, Phe, Tyr, His and Asp. Using an α-Hemolysin (α-HL) nanopore, we demonstrated the feasibility of derivatization-assisted identification of AAs regardless of their charge composition and polarity. The method was further applied to discriminate each individual AA in mixture samples using their established nanopore profiles. We envision this proof-of-concept study will not only pave a way for identification of individual AAs but also lead to future applications in protein/peptide sequencing using the nanopore technology.