Issue 3, 2016

Structurally plastic peptide capsules for synthetic antimicrobial viruses

Abstract

A conceptual design for artificial antimicrobial viruses is described. The design emulates viral assembly and function to create self-assembling peptide capsules that promote efficient gene delivery and silencing in mammalian cells. Unlike viruses, however, the capsules are antimicrobial, which allows them to exhibit a dual biological function: gene transport and antimicrobial activity. Unlike other antimicrobials, the capsules act as pre-concentrated antimicrobial agents that elicit rapid and localised membrane-disrupting responses by converting into individual pores at their precise landing positions on membranes. The concept holds promise for engineering virus-like scaffolds with biologically tuneable properties.

Graphical abstract: Structurally plastic peptide capsules for synthetic antimicrobial viruses

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
31 Aug 2015
Accepted
17 Dec 2015
First published
21 Dec 2015
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2016,7, 1707-1711

Author version available

Structurally plastic peptide capsules for synthetic antimicrobial viruses

V. Castelletto, E. de Santis, H. Alkassem, B. Lamarre, J. E. Noble, S. Ray, A. Bella, J. R. Burns, B. W. Hoogenboom and M. G. Ryadnov, Chem. Sci., 2016, 7, 1707 DOI: 10.1039/C5SC03260A

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