John Innes Centre: Virus singled out as nano building block

Research lead

Researchers at the John Innes Centre in the UK, the Scripps Research Institute in California and the Institut Pasteur in Paris have identified a stable, modifiable virus that could be used as a nanobuilding block.

Viral nanoparticles (VNPs) are ideally sized, can be produced in large quantities, and are very stable and robust.  They can self-assemble with very high precision, but are also amenable to modification by chemical means or genetic engineering.

Some applications of VNPs require them to withstand extremely harsh conditions. For example, uses in electrical systems may expose them to high temperatures, and biomedical uses can involve exposure to highly acidic conditions. 

The team identified viruses from the hot acidic sulphurous springs in Iceland and one of these, SIRV2, was assessed for its suitability for use as a viral nanobuilding block.

SIRV2 is a virus that infects Sulfolobus islandicus, a single-celled microorganism that grows optimally at 80 °C and at pH 3, and it was also able to withstand other harsh environments created in the laboratory.

The researchers found that depending on the chemistry used, genetic modifications could

be targeted specifically to the ends of the virus particle, to its body, or both. To date, this spatially controlled modification is unique to this VNP, and opens up new possibilities when the nanobuilding blocks are built up into arrays or layers.  Since the virus body and ends can be selectively labelled it is expected that arrays with different physical properties can be fabricated, for example by aligning particles body-to-body versus self-assembly end-to-end. This option is not possible with other rod-shaped VNPs.

“Future applications may be found in liquid crystal assembly, nanoscale templating, nanoelectronic and biomedical applications,” said Dave Evans of the John Innes Centre.

Further studies towards the development of these VNPs for materials are currently under way,” said Nicole Steinmetz of the Scripps Research Institute. “We are looking into the use of the particles to generate complex structures such as rings or tetrapods.”