Adenovirus Knob Trimers as Tailorable Scaffolds for Nanoscale Assembly

The biomimetic assembly of nanoparticles into controllable nanostructures hinges on the ability to regulate system reactivity. The introduction of structural elements with predesigned symmetries and quantized number of binding sites may aid in this effort. Symmetric adenovirus knob proteins are used as scaffolds for nano-assembly (see image). By way of genetic mutation, solvent-accessible Cys residues are incorporated onto a knob's trimeric surface, and the resulting symmetric tridentate crosslinker is shown to possess tunable assembly characteristics with gold nanoparticles.