Engineering of Brome mosaic virus for biomedical applications

Abstract

Viral nanoparticles (VNPs) are becoming versatile tools in platform technology development. Their well-defined structures as well as their programmability through chemical and genetic modification allow VNPs to be engineered for potential imaging and therapeutic applications. In this article, we report the application of a variety of bioconjugation chemistries to the plant VNP Brome mosaic virus (BMV). Functional BMV nanoparticles displaying multiple copies of fluorescent dyes, PEG molecules, chemotherapeutic drug moieties, targeting proteins and cell penetrating peptides were formulated. This opens the door for the application of BMV in nanomedicine. © 2012 The Royal Society of Chemistry.