Virus: The Next Generation Material
¿ÀÁø¿ì
ºÎ»ê´ëÇб³

Evolution by natural selection from the ancient past creates numerous nanomaterials, of which only the best is selected and propagated in generations of proteins and genes. Proteins and genes coordinate the spatial and temporal control of the synthesis of organic and inorganic nanomaterials, and generally form a hierarchical structure with specific functions. Moreover, further modification of the structure to manipulation capability was a key component of evolutionary pressure by natural selection. However, most of the nanostructures in nature are stereostructured and poorly formed, sometimes arranged at low levels, making it difficult to imitate very accurately. Our M13 bacteriophage-based self-assembly approach can be good candidate to overcome those obstacles. M13 bacteriophages are very beneficial for self-assembly. M13 bacteriophage can be mass-replicated with a specific E. coli as a host, so that an almost perfectly uniform monomer can be mass-produced easily and inexpensively. In addition, it is possible to express various chemical functional groups on the surface protein of M13 bacteriophage through genetic engineering technology. Due to above-mentioned advantages of the M13 bacteriophage, we are conducting research on application to various sensors, full color pixels and piezoelectric nanogenerators.1

Topic 1: In nature, it is possible to observe many organisms with various structural colors which are represented by regular nanostructures on the surface. M13 bacteriophage-based color film developed through self-assembly inspired by changes in skin color of turkeys changed by external stimuli. When an external chemical penetrates into the color film, the M13 bacteriophage nanostructure expands. As a result, the wavelength of the reflected visible light region is red-shifted. On the other hand, if the molecules that have penetrated into the M13 bacteriophage bundle evaporate, the wavelength of the reflected visible light region is blue-shifted as the distance between the nanostructures becomes narrower. With this principle, it is possible to fabricate a sensitive and high selectivity sensor through M13 bacteriophage expressing a peptide capable of specifically binding to a specific molecule. Topic 2: The basic principle of various colors existing in the natural world is largely divided into a method of absorbing a specific wavelength through a pigment, and a method of reflecting a light corresponding to a size or an interval of a protein or collagen structure on a surface. Morpho didius, a kind of butterfly inhabited in Peru, produces colorful blue using both color and structure color principles. In this study, we have fabricated color pixels by simple method which is mimicking both the pigment layer and the three-dimensional optical structure of Morpho didius. Topic 3: The M13 bacteriophage is a long fiber-like virus with a length of 880 nm and a width of 6.6 nm, consisting of 2,700 pairs of surface proteins and 5 pairs of proteins at both ends. Surface proteins have a dipole and produce a permanent polarization in the axial direction. We succeeded in developing a piezoelectric device with improved piezoelectric efficiency by using vertical orientation technology and genetic engineering technology of M13 bacteriophage.

References
1. Oh et al. Nature. 478, 364 (2012), Nature comm. 5, 3043 (2014), Sci Rep. 5, 13757 (2015), Energ. Environ. Sci. 8, 3198 (2015), Chem. Sci. 8, 921 (2017), Sci Rep. 9, 196 (2019)