Enzyme screening with synthetic multifunctional pores: focus on biopolymers.

This report demonstrates that a single set of identical synthetic multifunctional pores can detect the activity of many different enzymes. Enzymes catalyzing either synthesis or degradation of DNA (exonuclease III or polymerase I), RNA (RNase A), polysaccharides (heparinase I, hyaluronidase, and galactosyltransferase), and proteins (papain, ficin, elastase, subtilisin, and pronase) are selected to exemplify this key characteristic of synthetic multifunctional pore sensors. Because anionic, cationic, and neutral substrates can gain access to the interior of complementarily functionalized pores, such pores can be the basis for very user-friendly screening of a broad range of enzymes.