Phage Assembly Using ATPES-Conjugation of Major Coated p8 Protein for Possible Scaffolds

Filamentous phages have been in the limelight as a new type of nanomaterial. In this study, genetically and chemically modified fd phage was used to generate a biomimetic phage self- assembly product. Positively charged fd phage (p8-SSG) was engineered by conjugating 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) to hydroxyl groups of two serine ami-no acid residues introduced at the N-terminus of major coat protein, p8. In particular, formation of a phage network was controlled by changing mixed ratios between wild type fd phage and APTES conjugated fd-SSG phage. Assembled phages showed unique bundle and network like structures. The bacteriophage based self-assembly approach il-lustrated in this study might contribute to the design of three dimensional microporous structures. In this work, we demonstrated that the positively charged APTES conjugated fd-SSG phages can assemble into microstructures when they are exposed to negatively charged wild-type fd phages through electrostatic interaction. In summary, since we can control the phage self-assembly process in order to obtain bundle or network like structures and since they can be functionalized by means of chemical or genetic modi-fications, bacteriophages are good candidates for use as bio-compatible scaffolds. Such new type of phage-based artificial 3D architectures can be applied in tuning of cellular structures and functions for tissue engineering studies.