Self-assembled virus-like particles with magnetic cores.
Efficient encapsulation of functionalized spherical nanoparticles by viral protein cages was found to occur even if the nanoparticle is larger than the inner cavity of the native capsid. This result raises the intriguing possibility of reprogramming the self-assembly of viral structural proteins. The iron oxide nanotemplates used in this work are superparamagnetic, with a blocking temperature of about 250 K, making these virus-like particles interesting for applications such as magnetic resonance imaging and biomagnetic materials. Another novel feature of the virus-like particle assembly described in this work is the use of an anionic lipid micelle coat instead of a molecular layer covalently bound to the inorganic nanotemplate. Differences between the two functionalization strategies are discussed.
Huang
Xinlei
X
Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, 800 East Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA.
Bronstein
Lyudmila M
LM
Retrum
John
J
Dufort
Chris
C
Tsvetkova
Irina
I
Aniagyei
Stella
S
Stein
Barry
B
Stucky
Galen
G
McKenna
Brandon
B
Remmes
Nicholas
N
Baxter
David
D
Kao
C Cheng
CC
Dragnea
Bogdan
B
D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D005290:Ferric Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry; D008280:Magnetics; D008422:Materials Testing; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods; D010316:Particle Size; D013499:Surface Properties; D014771:Virion / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*
D005290:Ferric Compounds; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; C000499:ferric oxide