title: Plant viruses as biotemplates for materials and their use in nanotechnology.
abstract: In recent years, plant virus capsids, the protein shells that form the surface of a typical plant virus particle, have emerged as useful biotemplates for material synthesis. All virus capsids are assembled from virus-coded protein subunits. Many plant viruses assemble capsids with precise 3D structures providing nanoscale architectures that are highly homogeneous and can be produced in large quantities. Capsids are amenable to both genetic and chemical modifications allowing new functions to be incorporated into their structure by design. The three capsid surfaces, the interior surface, the exterior surface, or the interface between coat protein subunits, can be independently functionalized to produce multifunctional biotemplates. In this review, we examine the recent advances in using plant virus capsids as biotemplates for nanomaterials and their potential for applications in nanotechnology, especially medicine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology, Montana State University-Bozeman, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA. myoung@montana.edu
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: Debbi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Willits
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Uchida
authors.forename: Trevor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Douglas
mesh_terms: D001698:Biomedical Engineering / Q000639:trends*; D002213:Capsid / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure; D036022:Capsid Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000639:trends*; D010942:Plant Viruses / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins