In Situ Nanopore Fabrication and Single-Molecule Sensing with Microscale Liquid Contacts

ACS Nano ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 4907-4915 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher E. Arcadia ◽  
Carlos C. Reyes ◽  
Jacob K. Rosenstein
Keyword(s):  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 3317
Author(s):  
C.S. Quintans ◽  
Denis Andrienko ◽  
Katrin F. Domke ◽  
Daniel Aravena ◽  
Sangho Koo ◽  
...  

External electric fields (EEFs) have proven to be very efficient in catalysing chemical reactions, even those inaccessible via wet-chemical synthesis. At the single-molecule level, oriented EEFs have been successfully used to promote in situ single-molecule reactions in the absence of chemical catalysts. Here, we elucidate the effect of an EEFs on the structure and conductance of a molecular junction. Employing scanning tunnelling microscopy break junction (STM-BJ) experiments, we form and electrically characterize single-molecule junctions of two tetramethyl carotene isomers. Two discrete conductance signatures show up more prominently at low and high applied voltages which are univocally ascribed to the trans and cis isomers of the carotenoid, respectively. The difference in conductance between both cis-/trans- isomers is in concordance with previous predictions considering π-quantum interference due to the presence of a single gauche defect in the trans isomer. Electronic structure calculations suggest that the electric field polarizes the molecule and mixes the excited states. The mixed states have a (spectroscopically) allowed transition and, therefore, can both promote the cis-isomerization of the molecule and participate in electron transport. Our work opens new routes for the in situ control of isomerisation reactions in single-molecule contacts.


2016 ◽  
Vol 193 ◽  
pp. 99-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ling Zhang ◽  
Jens Ulstrup ◽  
Jingdong Zhang

DNA quadruplexes (qs) are a class of “non-canonical” oligonucleotides (OGNs) composed of stacked guanine (G) quartets stabilized by specific cations. Metal porphyrins selectively bind to G-qs complexes to form what is known as DNAzyme, which can exhibit peroxidase and other catalytic activity similar to heme group metalloenzymes. In the present study we investigate the electrochemical properties and the structure of DNAzyme monolayers on single-crystal Au(111)-electrode surfaces using cyclic voltammetry and scanning tunnelling microscopy under electrochemical potential control (in situ STM). The target DNAzyme is formed from a single-strand OGN with 12 guanines and iron(iii) porphyrin IX (hemin), and assembles on Au(111) through a mercapto alkyl linker. The DNAzyme monolayers exhibit a strong pair of redox peaks at 0.0 V (NHE) at pH 7 in acetate buffer, shifted positively by about 50 mV compared to free hemin weakly physisorbed on the Au(111)-electrode surface. The voltammetric hemin signal of DNAzyme is enhanced 15 times compared with that of hemin adsorbed directly on the Au(111)-electrode surface. This is indicative of both the formation of a close to dense DNAzyme monolayer and that hemin is strongly bound to the immobilized 12G-qs in well-defined orientation favorable for interfacial ET with a rate constant of 6.0 ± 0.4 s−1. This is supported by in situ STM which discloses single-molecule G-quartet structures with a size of 1.6 ± 0.2 nm.


2006 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Milhiet ◽  
A. Débarre ◽  
P. Tchénio ◽  
J. Neveu ◽  
D. Comas ◽  
...  

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (19) ◽  
pp. 5816 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Liang ◽  
Guo Peng ◽  
Guizhu Li ◽  
Yanhua Lan ◽  
Annie K. Powell ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin Dong ◽  
Yuchen Pei ◽  
Fei Zhao ◽  
Tian Wei Goh ◽  
Zhiyuan Qi ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Matthew Rowe

<p>Over the past decade and a half, evidence for transfer of whole mitochondria between mammalian cells has emerged in the literature. The notion that mitochondria are restricted to the cell of origin has been overturned by this curious phenomenon, yet the physiological relevance of these transfer events remains unclear.   This thesis investigates intercellular mitochondrial transfer in co-cultures of neural cells in vitro, to understand whether neural cells placed under stress demonstrate an enhanced rate of intercellular mitochondrial transfer. This would implicate the phenomenon as a cellular response to stress.   Reliable techniques for quantitative study of intercellular mitochondrial transfer are limited so far in this field. To address this, a novel quantitative approach was developed to detect intercellular mitochondrial transfer, based on single molecule genotyping by target-primed rolling circle amplification. This enabled imaging of individual mitochondrial DNA molecules in situ, to detect those molecules which had moved between cells. Through this strategy, intercellular mitochondrial transfer was detected in new in vitro co-culture models.   Primary murine pericytes derived from brain microvessels, were found to readily transfer mitochondria to a murine astrocyte cell line in vitro. Cisplatin, a DNA damaging agent; and chloramphenicol, a mitochondrial ribosome inhibitor, used to induce acute cellular injuries in the murine astrocyte cell line. These injuries were characterised and found to induce apoptosis, cause changes in growth characteristics, mitochondrial gene expression, and alter the metabolic phenotype of the cells. A derivative of the astrocyte cell line which completely lacks mitochondrial respiration, was found to model a chronic metabolic injury.  As pericytes are prevalent throughout the brain, the pericyte/astrocyte co-culture model was selected to evaluate how the rate of intercellular mitochondrial transfer was altered, when the astrocytes were injured prior to co-culture. Through in situ single molecule genotyping and high throughput confocal microscopy, quantitative data was produced on how the rate of intercellular mitochondrial transfer was altered by injury in these models. The rate of intercellular mitochondrial transfer remained unaltered by chloramphenicol, however both cisplatin and the chronic metabolic injury model demonstrated reduced numbers of pericyte mitochondrial DNAs transferred into the injured astrocytes.   These studies demonstrate successful application of a novel approach to study intercellular mitochondrial transfer and enable quantitative studies of this phenomenon.</p>


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