Bottom-Up Assembly of Hydrogels from Bacteriophage and Au Nanoparticles: The Effect of Cis- and Trans-Acting Factors
2008

Creating Hydrogels from Bacteriophage and Gold Nanoparticles

publication Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Souza Glauco R., Yonel-Gumruk Esra, Fan Davin, Easley Jeffrey, Rangel Roberto, Guzman-Rojas Liliana, Miller J. Houston, Arap Wadih, Pasqualini Renata

Primary Institution: The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center

Hypothesis

How do pH and peptide mutations affect the assembly of Au-phage hydrogels?

Conclusion

The study found that pH and the charge of peptide extensions significantly influence the stability and formation of Au-phage hydrogels.

Supporting Evidence

  • The study demonstrated that pH can dictate the assembly and stability of Au-phage hydrogels.
  • A molecular model was created to understand the charge distribution of native and mutant pVIII proteins.
  • The positive charge of the mutant peptide extension enhances the interaction with negatively charged gold nanoparticles.

Takeaway

This study shows that by changing the pH, we can control how tiny particles and viruses stick together to form gels, which could be useful for medicine.

Methodology

The researchers created hydrogels by mixing gold nanoparticles with bacteriophage at different pH levels and analyzed the interactions using various spectroscopy techniques.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1371/journal.pone.0002242

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