Toward Electronic Conductance Characterization of DNA Nucleotide Bases

Abstract:

We calculate electron-transport properties within equilibrium, linear transport theory through the DNA nucleotide bases spanning two gold nanowires. Our quantum mechanical calculations show that single configurations of DNA bases A, C, T, and G have significantly different charge conductance characteristics. This result is consistent with the notion that it is possible to read the nucleotide base sequence on an individual DNA heteropolymer which is moving through a gap between electrically biased nanoelectrodes by measuring the changes in the electron-transport conductance.