Viruses at Solid-Water Interfaces: A Systematic Assessment of Interactions Driving Adsorption

Area of Science:

• Environmental science
• Microbiology
• Surface chemistry

Background:

• Adsorption to solid-water interfaces significantly influences the behavior of waterborne viruses in various environments.
• Understanding the specific forces governing virus adsorption and their link to virus physicochemical properties is crucial but remains limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically investigate the adsorption of four distinct bacteriophages to diverse model surfaces and dissolved organic matter adlayers.
• To elucidate the roles of solution pH, ionic strength, and virus surface properties in adsorption dynamics.
• To identify the dominant interaction forces governing virus-sorbent interactions.

Main Methods:

• Utilized quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring to study bacteriophage adsorption.
• Employed computational modeling of amino acid distributions to characterize virus surface properties (charge, polarity, topography).
• Tested adsorption across a range of pH and ionic strengths on various model surfaces and dissolved organic matter adlayers.

Main Results:

• Virus adsorption was primarily governed by long-range electrostatic forces and favorable hydrophobic interactions.
• Shorter-range van der Waals interactions played a secondary role in adsorption.
• Steric effects were influenced by surface topography of both viruses and sorbents.
• Adsorption characteristics were successfully correlated with the specific surface properties of each bacteriophage.

Conclusions:

• Electrostatics and hydrophobic effects are the major forces driving virus adsorption to solid-water interfaces.
• Virus surface properties, including charge, polarity, and topography, are critical determinants of adsorption behavior.
• Computable descriptors of virus surface properties show potential for predicting virus adsorption in environmental and engineered systems.