Assembly of multimeric phage nanostructures through leucine zipper interactions

Area of Science:

• Nanotechnology
• Materials Science
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Ordered assembly of nanomaterials is crucial for constructing nanoscale devices.
• Biological tools offer precise control over component connections.
• Viruses have been used as scaffolds, but higher-order assembly methods are limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a general strategy for assembling filamentous bacteriophages into ordered 2D and 3D structures.
• To enable the self-assembly of phage-templated nanomaterials for device applications.

Main Methods:

• Engineered M13 bacteriophage by fusing dimeric leucine zipper domains to p3 and p9 proteins for linear assembly.
• Utilized electron microscopy to analyze phage assembly.
• Engineered phage to express trimeric leucine zippers as p3 fusion proteins for 3D assembly.

Main Results:

• Up to 90% of phage with complementary leucine zippers formed linear assemblies of up to 30 phage.
• Successfully created linear, wire-like phage assemblies.
• Achieved 3D assembly, forming tripod-like structures with three phages connected at a single point.

Conclusions:

• Developed a versatile method for creating ordered filamentous bacteriophage structures.
• These ordered phage assemblies provide a foundation for self-assembling virally templated nanomaterials.
• The strategy facilitates the construction of nanoscale devices with controlled material organization.