Multivalent ligand displayed on plant virus induces rapid onset of bone differentiation

Viruses are monodispersed biomacromolecules with well-defined 3-D structures at the nanometer level. The relative ease to manipulate viral coat protein gene to display numerous functional groups affords an attractive feature for these nanomaterials, and the inability of plant viruses to infect mammalian hosts poses little or no cytotoxic concerns. As such, these nanosized molecular tools serve as powerful templates for many pharmacological applications ranging as multifunctional theranostic agents with tissue targeting motifs and imaging agents, potent vaccine scaffolds to induce cellular immunity and for probing cellular functions as synthetic biomaterials. The results herein show that combination of serum-free, chemically defined media with genetically modified plant virus induces rapid onset of key bone differentiation markers for bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells within two days. The xeno-free culture is often a key step toward development of ex vivo implants, and the early onset of osteocalcin, BMP-2 and calcium sequestration are some of the key molecular markers in the progression toward bone formation. The results herein will provide some key insights to engineering functional materials for rapid bone repair.