Virus particles as templates for materials synthesis

Research News: Virus protein rages, capsids, which display a wide range of sizes and shapes, can be used for constrained materials synthesis. The auth ors briefly review recent work involving capsids, including the use of sphe rical viruses for inorganic mineralization and organic polymer encapsulatio n and the mineralization of anisotropic structures such as the tobacco mosa ic virus, which can lead to mineralized fibers of iron oxide or silica with very high aspect ratios. The topic of gating-which enables the selective e ntrapment and release of materials from within the central cavity-is briefl y touched upon.