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Chemical virology

Packing polymers in protein cages

Nature Chemistry volume 4, pages 775–777 (2012)Cite this article

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The combination of addressable synthetic macromolecules with proteins of precise structure and function often leads to materials with unique properties, as is now shown by the efficient multi-site initiation of polymer growth inside the cavity of a virus capsid.

Biological nanostructures, such as enzyme clusters and viruses, are typically superior to synthetic nanoscale materials when it comes to their degree of sophistication in terms of both structure and function. It has, therefore, been a rewarding strategy to combine these biomacromolecules with synthetic polymers to obtain hybrids that combine the properties of both types of material1. In recent years, the use of virus capsids — the protein cage of a virus from which the genetic cargo has been removed — has emerged as a way to construct (semi)biological nanostructures.

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Figure 1: Polymer-filled protein cages.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jeroen J. L. M. Cornelissen is in the Laboratory for Biomolecular Nanotechnology, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, PO Box 217, 7500AE, Enschede, the Netherlands,

    Jeroen J. L. M. Cornelissen

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  1. Jeroen J. L. M. Cornelissen
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Correspondence to Jeroen J. L. M. Cornelissen.

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Cornelissen, J. Packing polymers in protein cages. Nature Chem 4, 775–777 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.1462

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