%0 Journal Article
%T Self-energy limited ion transport in sub-nanometer channels
%A Douwe Jan Bonthuis
%A Jingshan Zhang
%A Breton Hornblower
%A Jerome Mathe
%A Boris I. Shklovskii
%A Amit Meller
%J Quantitative Biology
%D 2006
%I arXiv
%R 10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.128104
%X The current-voltage characteristics of the alpha-Hemolysin protein pore during the passage of single-stranded DNA under varying ionic strength, C, are studied experimentally. We observe strong blockage of the current, weak super-linear growth of the current as a function of voltage, and a minimum of the current as a function of C. These observations are interpreted as the result of the ion electrostatic self-energy barrier originating from the large difference in the dielectric constants of water and the lipid bilayer. The dependence of DNA capture rate on C also agrees with our model.
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0604148v2