Structure-Based Multifunctionalization of Flexuous Elongated Viral Nanoparticles

Nanoparticle multifunctionalization has become an important goal in many nanoscience-related areas because it allows different simultaneous applications with the same nanoparticle. To develop viral nanoparticles (VNPs) derivatized with different compounds, structural models for Turnip mosaic virus coat protein and viral particles (VNPs) were generated. The models were used as guides toward conjugation-prone amino acid targets. A single cysteine, internal in the coat protein folding, was subjected to different conjugations with several small compounds. Lysines, very abundant on the virion surface, turned out to be suitable for multiderivatization with larger compounds, including a human peptide. The set of locations in the VNP for multifunctionalization was completed by combining chemical and genetic derivatizations of the assembled viral coat protein. This VNP multiple derivatization opens the path toward complex goals in nanoscience, which require the need for different, possibly unrelated but complementary, added functions.