Filamentous fd virus-templated biomineralized supramolecular structures

Abstract

Filamentous fd phages are rod-like viruses which can self-assemble into hierarchical structures including liquid crystals under predefined physiological conditions. In this study, Fe(III) counterion mediated condensation of fd viruses was investigated by Atomic force microscopy (AFM), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analyses. Hierarchical supramolecular bundle-like structures obtained through Fe(III) treatment were used as biotemplates for iron oxide deposition process. Resulting phage-templated assemblies were collected with a magnet. Negative control samples without any viruses did not result in magnetic aggregate formation implying that the reaction was virus mediated. Morphology and elemental composition of magnet separated aggregates were investigated by SEM and EDX analyses. Such virus-templated bottom-up synthesized biomineralized materials could be further applied for interdisciplinary research areas including nanobioelectronics and biomedicine.