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Self-assembly and optically triggered disassembly of hierarchical dendron–virus complexes

Nature Chemistry volume 2, pages 394–399 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Nature offers a vast array of biological building blocks that can be combined with synthetic materials to generate a variety of hierarchical architectures. Viruses are particularly interesting in this respect because of their structure and the possibility of them functioning as scaffolds for the preparation of new biohybrid materials. We report here that cowpea chlorotic mottle virus particles can be assembled into well-defined micrometre-sized objects and then reconverted into individual viruses by application of a short optical stimulus. Assembly is achieved using photosensitive dendrons that bind on the virus surface through multivalent interactions and then act as a molecular glue between the virus particles. Optical triggering induces the controlled decomposition and charge switching of dendrons, which results in the loss of multivalent interactions and the release of virus particles. We demonstrate that the method is not limited to the virus particles alone, but can also be applied to other functional protein cages such as magnetoferritin.

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Figure 1: Strategy for the assembly and optically triggered disassembly of a hierarchical CCMV–dendron complex.
Figure 2: Formation of CCMV–dendron complexes.
Figure 3: Disassembly of the CCMV–dendron complex.
Figure 4: Self-assembly and disassembly of the MF–dendron complex.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (Vidi grant to J.J.L.M.C. and top grant to R.J.M.N.), by the European Research Council (Euryi grant to J.J.L.M.C.) and by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Science (endowed chair to R.J.M.N. and Beijerink award to J.J.L.M.C.). O.K. was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council UK. M.A.K. was supported by the Academy of Finland, Instrumentarium Science Foundation and the Alfred Kordelin Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Radboud University Nijmegen, Institute for Molecules and Materials, Heyendaalseweg 135, AJ Nijmegen, 6525, The Netherlands

    Mauri A. Kostiainen, Jeroen J. L. M. Cornelissen & Roeland J. M. Nolte

  2. H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TL, UK

    Oksana Kasyutich

  3. Laboratory of Biomolecular Nanotechnology, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands

    Jeroen J. L. M. Cornelissen

Authors
  1. Mauri A. Kostiainen
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Contributions

M.A.K., J.J.L.M.C. and R.J.M.N. conceived and designed the experiments. M.A.K. performed the experiments. O.K. contributed to the experiment design and prepared the magnetoferritin. M.A.K., J.J.L.M.C. and R.J.M.N. co-wrote the paper. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mauri A. Kostiainen or Jeroen J. L. M. Cornelissen.

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Kostiainen, M., Kasyutich, O., Cornelissen, J. et al. Self-assembly and optically triggered disassembly of hierarchical dendron–virus complexes. Nature Chem 2, 394–399 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.592

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