Biotechnological Frontiers of DNA Nanomaterials Continue to Expand: Bacterial Infection using Virus-Inspired Capsids |
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Authors: | Prof Dr Ir Maartje M C Bastings |
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Institution: | Programmable Biomaterials Laboratory (PBL), Institute of Materials (IMX), Interfaculty Bioengineering Institute (IBI), School of Engineering (STI), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale Lausanne (EPFL), 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland |
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Abstract: | The elegant geometry of viruses has inspired bio-engineers to synthetically explore the self-assembly of polyhedral capsids employed to protect new cargo or change an enzymatic microenvironment. Recently, Yang and co-workers used DNA nanotechnology to revisit the icosahedral capsid structure of the phiX174 bacteriophage and reloaded the original viral genome as cargo into their fully synthetic architecture. Surprisingly, when using a favorable combination of structural rigidity and dynamic multivalent cargo entrapment, the synthetic particles were able to infect non-competent bacterial cells and produce the original phiX174 bacteriophage. This work presents an exciting new direction of DNA nanotech for bio-engineering applications which involve bacterial interactions. |
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Keywords: | Bacterial Infection Biotechnology DNA Origami Structural Rigidity Virus-Inspired Particles |
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