Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Lucon, Janice
• Qazi, Shefah
• Uchida, Masaki
• Bedwell, Gregory J
• LaFrance, Ben
• Prevelige, Jr, Peter E
• Douglas, Trevor

Titel

Use of the interior cavity of the P22 capsid for site-specific initiation of atom-transfer radical polymerization with high-density cargo loading

Ist Teil von

• Nature chemistry, 2012-10, Vol.4 (10), p.781

Ort / Verlag

England

Erscheinungsjahr

2012

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Virus-like particles (VLPs) have emerged as important and versatile architectures for chemical manipulation in the development of functional hybrid nanostructures. Here we demonstrate a successful site-selective initiation of atom-transfer radical polymerization reactions to form an addressable polymer constrained within the interior cavity of a VLP. Potentially, this protein-polymer hybrid of P22 and cross-linked poly(2-aminoethyl methacrylate) could be useful as a new high-density delivery vehicle for the encapsulation and delivery of small-molecule cargos. In particular, the encapsulated polymer can act as a scaffold for the attachment of small functional molecules, such as fluorescein dye or the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent Gd-diethylenetriaminepentacetate, through reactions with its pendant primary amine groups. Using this approach, a significant increase in the labelling density of the VLP, compared to that of previous modifications of VLPs, can be achieved. These results highlight the use of multimeric protein-polymer conjugates for their potential utility in the development of VLP-based MRI contrast agents with the possibility of loading other cargos.