Poster abstracts

Poster number 33 submitted by Farzin Haque

Automated analysis of RNA and DNA fingerprinting using the nano-channels of bacteriophage phi29 DNA packaging motor

Chris Stites (Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati), Farzin Haque (Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati), Peixuan Guo (Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati)

Abstract:
Translocation of biopolymers such as RNA or DNA is an important theme in living systems. The connector channel of the phi 29 DNA-packaging motor is an intriguing element in this category. We demonstrated that the lipid-embedded connector channel has the ability to translocate double stranded and single stranded DNA or single stranded RNA under an applied volatge (Nature Nanotechnology, in press). Herein, we developed an automated system using MATLAB for detailed analysis of nucleic acids translocating through the protein nanopore using a set of parameters. Individual pore-blockade events are first distinguished from noise events with high confidence. The chracateristic depths and duration of the current blockade events are then determined to distinguish varying lengths and conformational structure of RNA or DNA. The automated single molecule RNA/DNA analysis has the potential for future high throughput analysis of various bioplomers as well as DNA sequencing applications.

Keywords: Bacteriophage phi29, Nano-Channel, RNA translocation