Virus-SiO2 and Virus-SiO2-Au Hybrid Particles with Tunable Morphology

Potato virus X is used as a multifunctional template to form various inorganic hybrid structures with different nano- and mesoscopic architectures. A genetically added peptide induces biomineralization, leading to controlled formation of SiO2, providing virus structures decorated with SiO2 nanoparticles as well as mesoscopic superstructures. The formation of isolated nanoparticles allows for additional targeting via immunogold labeling.