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  • Review Article
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Building membrane nanopores

Nature Nanotechnology volume 12, pages 619–630 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Membrane nanopores—hollow nanoscale barrels that puncture biological or synthetic membranes—have become powerful tools in chemical- and biosensing, and have achieved notable success in portable DNA sequencing. The pores can be self-assembled from a variety of materials, including proteins, peptides, synthetic organic compounds and, more recently, DNA. But which building material is best for which application, and what is the relationship between pore structure and function? In this Review, I critically compare the characteristics of the different building materials, and explore the influence of the building material on pore structure, dynamics and function. I also discuss the future challenges of developing nanopore technology, and consider what the next-generation of nanopore structures could be and where further practical applications might emerge.

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Figure 1: Protein pores and applications.
Figure 2: Peptide pores.
Figure 3: DNA nanopores composed of aligned duplexes.
Figure 4: Synthetic organic nanopores.

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Acknowledgements

I thank J. R. Burns for rendering and producing DNA pore images, A. Hodel for providing membrane particle system, K. Ahmad and J. Donnelly for help with peptide images, R. Morgan and Z. Siwy for critically reading the manuscript. Supported by UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council grant EP/N009282/1 and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council grants BB/M025373/1 and BB/N017331/1, the Leverhulme Trust research grant RPG-2017-015 and Oxford Nanopore Technologies.

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    Stefan Howorka

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Correspondence to Stefan Howorka.

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The research group of S.H. receives funding from Oxford Nanopore Technologies.

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Howorka, S. Building membrane nanopores. Nature Nanotech 12, 619–630 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2017.99

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