Developing a Programmable, Self-Assembling Squash Leaf Curl China Virus (SLCCNV) Capsid Proteins into "Nanocargo"-like Architecture

Raja Muthuramalingam Thangavelu; Deepan Sundarajan; Mohammed Riyaz Savaas Umar; Michael Immanuel Jesse Denison; Dharanivasan Gunasekaran; Ganapathy Rajendran; Nallusamy Duraisamy; Krishnan Kathiravan

doi:10.1021/acsabm.8b00543

Developing a Programmable, Self-Assembling Squash Leaf Curl China Virus (SLCCNV) Capsid Proteins into "Nanocargo"-like Architecture

ACS Appl Bio Mater. 2018 Nov 19;1(5):1741-1757. doi: 10.1021/acsabm.8b00543. Epub 2018 Nov 2.

Authors

Raja Muthuramalingam Thangavelu¹, Deepan Sundarajan¹, Mohammed Riyaz Savaas Umar¹, Michael Immanuel Jesse Denison¹, Dharanivasan Gunasekaran¹, Ganapathy Rajendran¹, Nallusamy Duraisamy¹, Krishnan Kathiravan¹

Affiliation

¹ Plant Molecular Virology and Nanobiotechnology Research Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, University of Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600025, India.

PMID: 34996223
DOI: 10.1021/acsabm.8b00543

Abstract

A new era has begun in which pathogens have become useful scaffolds for nanotechnology applications. In this research/study, an attempt has been made to generate an empty cargo-like architecture from a plant pathogenic virus named Squash leaf curl China virus (SLCCNV). In this approach, SLCCNV coat protein monomers are obtained efficiently by using a yeast Pichia pastoris expression system. Further, dialysis of purified SLCCNV-CP monomers against various pH modified (5-10) disassembly and assembly buffers produced a self-assembled "Nanocargo"-like architecture, which also exhibited an ability to encapsulate magnetic nanoparticles in vitro. Bioinformatics tools were also utilized to predict the possible self-assembly kinetics and bioconjugation sites of coat protein monomers. Significantly, an in vitro biocompatibility study using SLCCNV-Nanocargo particles showed low toxicity to the cells, which eventually proved as a potential nanobiomaterial for biomedical applications.

Keywords: begomovirus; biocompatibility; coat protein expression; in vitro self-assembly; nanocargo-like particles; nanotool for target delivery; virus nanotechnology.