Recombinant maxi-K channels on transistor, a prototype of iono-electronic interfacing
Bernhard Straub, Elisabeth Meyer
& Peter Fromherz
Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry, Department of Membrane and Neurophysics, D-82152 Martinsried, Germany.
Correspondence should be addressed to Peter Fromherz fromherz@biochem.mpg.deion channelstransistorscell-chip sensorsbioelectronics
We report on the direct electrical interfacing of a recombinant ion channel to a field-effect transistor on a silicon chip. The ion current through activated maxi-KCa channels in human embryonic kidney (HEK293) cells gives rise to an extracellular voltage between cell and chip that controls the electronic source−drain current. A comparison with patch-clamp recording shows that the channels at the cell/chip interface are fully functional and that they are significantly accumulated there. The direct coupling of potassium channels to a semiconductor on the level of an individual cell is the prototype for an iono-electronic interface of ligand-gated or G protein-coupled ion channels and the development of screening biosensors with many transfected cells on a chip with a large array of transistors.
