Description:

Long rod-shaped M13 viruses were used to fabricate one-dimensional (1D) micro- and nanosized diameter fibers by mimicking the spinning process of the silk spider. Liquid crystalline virus suspensions were extruded through the micrometer diameter capillary tubes in a crosslinking solution of glutaraldehyde. Resulting fibers were 10-20 um in diameter. AFM imaging verified that the molecular long axis of the virus fibers was parallel to the fiber long axis. M13 viruses were suspended in 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol and were then electrospun into fibers. After blending with a highly water soluble polymer, polyvinyl pyrolidone (PVP), M13 viruses were spun into continuous uniform virusblended PVP (virus-PVP) nanofibers. Resulting virus-PVP electrospun fibers maintained their ability to infect bacterial hosts after resuspending in buffer solution.  This AFM image and schematic diagram inset show nematic oriented morphology of virus fiber (scale bar: 1 um).

Previous Day/Next Day

Please contact the webmaster if you would like to submit an image