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Encapsulation of Nanoparticles in Virus Protein Shells

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Book cover Protein Cages

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1252))

Abstract

The self-assembly of virus-like particles may lead to materials which combine the unique characteristics of viruses, such as precise size control and responsivity to environmental cues, with the properties of abiotic cargo. For a few different viruses, shell proteins are amenable to the in vitro encapsulation of non-genomic cargo in a regular protein cage. In this chapter we describe protocols of high-efficiency in vitro self-assembly around functionalized gold nanoparticles for three examples of icosahedral and non-icosahedral viral protein cages derived from a plant virus, an animal virus, and a human retrovirus. These protocols can be readily adapted with small modifications to work for a broad variety of inorganic and organic nanoparticles.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, under Award # DE-SC0010507.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, 800 E. Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA

    Irina B. Tsvetkova & Bogdan G. Dragnea

Authors
  1. Irina B. Tsvetkova
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  2. Bogdan G. Dragnea
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bogdan G. Dragnea .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, King's College London, London, United Kingdom

    Brendan P. Orner

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Tsvetkova, I.B., Dragnea, B.G. (2015). Encapsulation of Nanoparticles in Virus Protein Shells. In: Orner, B. (eds) Protein Cages. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1252. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2131-7_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2131-7_1

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