Fig. 1: A rationally designed large and gated channel (LGC).

a–c Structural model of the large and gated channel (LGC) containing a channel lumen with 20.4 nm × 20.4 nm opening cross-section into a 70 nm × 70 nm single-duplex layer square plate (blue). A total of 64 hydrophobic cholesterol anchors (orange), placed around the pore on the bottom surface of the plate helps the nanopore to insert through the bilayer. A lid (pink) can be reversibly closed (a) and opened (b), by a key and reverse key mechanism to control the transmembrane flux of cargoes. c Top view of LGC. d Opening and closing mechanism with key and reverse key. Two locks formed by the hybridization of two sets of complementary strands, one set (red) placed on the lid (pink) and the other set (dark blue) on the plate (blue) initially keep the lid closed. The addition of key displaces the locks and thereby opens the lid. The addition of the reverse key displaces the key as a key-reverse key complex, leading to reclosing of the lock back to the initial state. e–g AFM images of cholesterol-free LGC without lid (e), with closed lid (f), and with opened lid (g). Scale bars, 50 nm. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.