Trivalent Cation Induced Bundle Formation of Filamentous fd Phages

Bacteriophages are filamentous polyelectrolyte viral rods infecting only bacteria. In this study, we investigate the bundle formation of fd phages with trivalent cations having different ionic radii (Al(3+) , La(3+) and Y(3+) ) at various phage and counterion concentrations, and at varying bundling times. Aggregated phage bundles were detected at relatively low trivalent counterion concentrations (1 mM). Although 10 mM and 100 mM Y(3+) and La(3+) treatments formed larger and more intertwined phage bundles, Al(3+) and Fe(3+) treatments lead to the formation of networking filaments. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analyses confirmed the presence of C, N and O peaks on densely packed phage bundles. Immunofluorescence labelling and ELISA analyses with anti-p8 antibodies showed the presence of phage filaments after bundling.