In Vitro Assembly of Virus-Derived Designer Shells Around Inorganic Nanoparticles.

Nanoparticle-templated assembly of virus shells provides a promising approach to the production of hybrid nanomaterials and a potential avenue toward new mechanistic insights in virus phenomena originating in many-body effects, which cannot be understood from examining the properties of molecular subunits alone. This approach complements the successful molecular biology perspective traditionally used in virology, and promises a deeper understanding of viruses and virus-like particles through an expanded methodological toolbox. Here we present protocols for forming a virus coat protein shell around functionalized inorganic nanoparticles.