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Self-assembled virus–membrane complexes

Nature Materials volume 3, pages 615–619 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Anionic polyelectrolytes and cationic lipid membranes can self-assemble into lamellar structures ranging from alternating layers of membranes and polyelectrolytes1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 to 'missing layer' superlattice structures12. We show that these structural differences can be understood in terms of the surface-charge-density mismatch between the polyelectrolyte and membrane components by examining complexes between cationic membranes and highly charged M13 viruses, a system that allowed us to vary the polyelectrolyte diameter independently of the charge density. Such virus–membrane complexes have pore sizes that are about ten times larger in area than DNA–membrane complexes, and can be used to package and organize large functional molecules; correlated arrays of Ru(bpy)32+ macroionic dyes have been directly observed within the virus–membrane complexes using an electron-density reconstruction. These observations elucidate fundamental design rules for rational control of self-assembled polyelectrolyte–membrane structures, which have applications ranging from non-viral gene therapy13,14,15,16 to biomolecular templates for nanofabrication17.

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Figure 1: Representation of polyelectrolyte–membrane complexes.
Figure 2: Complexes between highly charged M13 filamentous viruses and cationic membranes.
Figure 3: Organization of nanoscopic arrays of Ru(bpy)32+ macroions by virus–membrane complexes.
Figure 4: Electron density ρ(z) reconstruction of the M13-membrane unit cell.

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Acknowledgements

This material is based upon work supported in part by the US Department of Energy, Division of Materials Sciences under Award No. DEFG02-91ER45439, through the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, and carried out in part in the Center for Microanalysis of Materials, which is partially supported by the US Department of Energy under grant DEFG02-91-ER45439, and by NSF-DMR-0409769 and the NSF Nanoscience & Engineering Initiative.

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  1. Lihua Yang and Hongjun Liang: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1304 West Green St., Urbana, 61801, Illinois, USA

    Lihua Yang, Hongjun Liang, John Butler & Gerard C. L. Wong

  2. Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1304 West Green St., Urbana, 61801, Illinois, USA

    Thomas E. Angelini, Robert Coridan & Gerard C. L. Wong

  3. Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1304 West Green St., Urbana, 61801, Illinois, USA

    Gerard C. L. Wong

  4. Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1304 West Green St., Urbana, 61801, Illinois, USA

    Gerard C. L. Wong

  5. Department of Physics, Brown University, Box 1843, 184 Hope St., Providence, 02912, Rhode Island, USA

    Jay X. Tang

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Correspondence to Gerard C. L. Wong.

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Yang, L., Liang, H., Angelini, T. et al. Self-assembled virus–membrane complexes. Nature Mater 3, 615–619 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1195

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