TY - JOUR A1 - Al-Waqfi, R. A. A1 - Khan, C. J. A1 - Irving, O. J. A1 - Matthews, Lauren A1 - Albrecht, T. T1 - Crowding Effects during DNA Translocation in Nanopipettes N2 - Quartz nanopipettes are an important emerging class of electric single-molecule sensors for DNA, proteins, their complexes, as well as other biomolecular targets. However, in comparison to other resistive pulse sensors, nanopipettes constitute a highly asymmetric environment and the transport of ions and biopolymers can become strongly directiondependent. For double-stranded DNA, this can include the characteristic translocation time and tertiary structure, but as we show here, nanoconfinement can also unlock capabilities for biophysical and bioanalytical studies at the single-molecule level. To this end, we show how the accumulation of DNA inside the nanochannel leads to crowding effects, and in some cases reversible blocking of DNA entry, and provide a detailed analysis based on a range of different DNA samples and experimental conditions. Moreover, using biotin-functionalized DNA and streptavidinmodified gold nanoparticles as target, we demonstrate in a proof-of-concept study how the crowding effect, and the resulting increased residence time in nanochannel, can be exploited by first injecting the DNA into the nanochannel, followed by incubation with the nanoparticle target and analysis of the complex by reverse translocation. We thereby integrate elements of sample processing and detection into the nanopipette, as an important conceptual advance, and make a case for the wider applicability of this device concept. KW - DNA translocation KW - Transport KW - Resistive-pulse sensing KW - Nanopores KW - Nanopipettes KW - Crowding KW - Confinement PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-630448 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.5c01529 SN - 1936-086X VL - 19 IS - 17 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - ACS Publications AN - OPUS4-63044 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -