title: Dielectrophoretic investigation of plant virus particles: Cow Pea Mosaic Virus and Tobacco Mosaic Virus.
abstract: This paper reports experimental results on the dielectrophoretic (DEP) behaviour on two nonenveloped plant viruses of different geometrical shapes, namely Cow Pea Mosaic Virus (CPMV) and Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV). The DEP properties of carboxy-modified latex beads of the same size are also reported. The DEP properties of single particles were obtained from measurement of the frequency at which the DEP force on a particle goes to zero (the crossover frequency). The DEP behaviour of particle ensembles was also measured using image processing. The dielectric properties of the particles were evaluated from the DEP data. The surface conductance was found to be 0.3 nS for CPMV, 0.38 nS for TMV, and 0.52 nS for 27 nm diameter carboxy-latex beads. Data analysis has shown that the optimal condition for separation of TMV and CPMV is a low-conductivity suspending medium - below 1 mS/m.
authors.affiliation: School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
authors.forename: Irina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ermolina
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Milner
authors.forename: Hywel
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Morgan
mesh_terms: D017798:Comovirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004586:Electrophoresis / Q000379:methods*; D008863:Microspheres; D014027:Tobacco Mosaic Virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*