Voltage-controlled insertion of single α -hemolysin and mycobacterium smegmatis nanopores into lipid bilayer membranes

One of the prerequisites for single molecule nanopore translocation experiments is the availability of a single nanopore embedded into a lipid bilayer membrane. Using two alternative experimental setups, microdroplets, and a classical planar lipid bilayer setup, we here show that at near-neutral pH and high salt concentration the incorporation rates of the pore-forming proteins α -hemolysin and porin A from Mycobacterium smegmatis are exponentially enhanced at elevated voltages. This fact can be utilized to establish an experimental procedure by which a voltage-controlled insertion of single pores into lipid membranes can be achieved.