Overview of the Manifold VNPs Used in Nanotechnology - Viral Nanoparticles: Tools for Materials Science and Biomedicine - page 29

The applications of CPMV are manifold, including presentation platforms,
building blocks for the construction of multilayered arrays, and imaging tools
for medicine. For the icosahedral viruses, CPMV is one of the most extensively
studied virions in the field of viral nanotechnology and will be discussed in
all chapters of this topic.

.. Hibiscus Chloroic Ringspot Virus : A Plant Virus

HCRSV is a virus in the genus Carmovirus. It exists throughout the world and
infects plants of the family . From an agricultural point of view,

HCRSV has limited economic importance. It mainly causes disease in

Malvaceae

Hibiscus

rosa-sinensis cultivars; symptoms are mild and plants continue to flower.

The particles are about 30 nm in diameter and formed by 180 copies of
identical coat proteins; thus, the particles have icosahedral

= 3 symmetry.
The genome is a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA genome (from DPV;
http://www.dpvweb.net).
HCRSV is relatively new to the field for nanotechnology and only few
studies have been described. Here, the VNPs were exploited for an

T

in vitro

targeted drug-delivery approach (Ren et al ., 2006, 2007); see Chapter 8.

.. Red Clover Necroic Motle Virus : A Plant Virus

RCNMV is from the family . The virus can naturally be found

in red clover in Europe. More than 100 plants can be infected including
cucumber, tobacco, basil, some beans, and peas (from DPV; http://www.
dpvweb.net).
RCNMV virions contain 180 identical coat protein copies arranged in an
icosahedral

Tombusviridae

= 3 symmetry; the capsids have a diameter of approximately
36 nm (Sherman

T

., 2006). The genome is bipartite positive-sense, single-
stranded RNA (Basnayake

et al

et al ., 2006).

are typically used for
virus propagation. The self-assembly process of the RCNMV capsid is well
understood, and

Nicotiana clevelandii and Phaseolus vulgaris

assembly protocols have been established. The
self-assembly of the coat proteins is initiated and stabilized by an internal
protein/RNA cage known as the origin of assembly site (Sit

in vitro

., 1998). This
knowledge has been exploited for nanotechnology. Synthetic nanoparticles
such as gold nanoparticles can be incorporated into RCNMV capsids by
creating an artificial origin of assembly site (OAS) on the nanoparticle,
thus initiating the

et al

in vitro assembly and the formation of VNPs around the

nanoparticle cores (Loo et al ., 2006, 2007) (see Chapter 5).