Deterministic stepping of polymers through a nanopore

A nanopore system for characterizing a target polymer molecule selected from nucleic acid polymer molecules and protein polymer molecules and including a plurality of polymer subunits along a target polymer molecule length, comprising:

• a first fluidic reservoir and a second fluidic reservoir, the first and second fluidic reservoirs in fluidic communication with a nanopore that forms a fluidic path between the first fluidic reservoir and the second fluidic reservoir;
• an enzyme clamp provided in the first fluidic reservoir, the enzyme clamp having an outer enzyme clamp diameter greater than a diameter of the nanopore and having an enzyme configuration operative to enable the enzyme clamp to reversibly bind to a sequential plurality of polymer subunits of the target polymer molecule in ionic solution in the first fluidic reservoir;
• an electrical connection, between the first reservoir and the second reservoir, operative to apply a voltage bias across the nanopore, between the first reservoir and the second reservoir, to induce travel of the target polymer molecule into the nanopore;
• a pulse generator, connected between the first reservoir and the second reservoir, operative to apply control pulses across the nanopore, between the first reservoir and the second reservoir, to step the enzyme clamp along sequential polymer subunits of the target polymer molecule, polymer subunit by polymer subunit, the system including no fuel for the enzyme clamp and no source of fuel for the enzyme clamp;
• and
• a controller operative to control collection of electrical indications of polymer subunits of the target polymer molecule while the polymer subunits step through the nanopore.

A nanopore system for characterizing a target polymer molecule selected from nucleic acid polymer molecules and protein polymer molecules and including a plurality of polymer subunits along a target polymer molecule length, comprising:

• a first fluidic reservoir and a second fluidic reservoir, the first and second fluidic reservoirs in fluidic communication with a nanopore that forms a fluidic path between the first fluidic reservoir and the second fluidic reservoir;
• an enzyme clamp provided in the first fluidic reservoir, the enzyme clamp having an outer enzyme clamp diameter greater than a diameter of the nanopore and having an enzyme configuration operative to enable the enzyme clamp to reversibly bind to a sequential plurality of polymer 12 subunits of the target polymer molecule in ionic solution in the first fluidic reservoir;
• an electrical connection, between the first reservoir and the second reservoir, operative to apply a voltage bias across the nanopore, between the first reservoir and the second reservoir, to induce travel of the target polymer molecule into the nanopore;
• a pulse generator, connected between the first reservoir and the second reservoir, operative to apply control pulses across the nanopore, between the first reservoir and the second reservoir, to step the enzyme clamp along sequential polymer subunits of the target polymer molecule, polymer subunit by polymer subunit, the system including no energy for the enzyme clamp and no source of energy for the enzyme clamp to fuel the stepping of the enzyme clamp along sequential polymer subunits;
• and
• a controller operative to control collection of electrical indications of polymer subunits of the target polymer molecule while the polymer subunits step through the nanopore.