Viral aggregation is a complex and pervasive phenomenon affecting many viral families. An increasing number of studies have indicated that it can modulate critical parameters surrounding viral infections, and yet its role in viral infectivity, pathogenesis, and evolution is just beginning to be appreciated. Aggregation likely promotes viral infection by increasing the cellular multiplicity of infection (MOI), which can help overcome stochastic failures of viral infection and genetic defects and subsequently modulate their fitness, virulence, and host responses. Conversely, aggregation can limit the dispersal of viral particles and hinder the early stages of establishing a successful infection. The cost–benefit of viral aggregation seems to vary not only depending on the viral species and aggregating factors but also on the spatiotemporal context of the viral life cycle. Here, we review the knowns of viral aggregation by focusing on studies with direct observations of viral aggregation and mechanistic studies of the aggregation process. Next, we chart the unknowns and discuss the biological implications of viral aggregation in their infection cycle. We conclude with a perspective on harnessing the therapeutic potential of this phenomenon and highlight several challenging questions that warrant further research for this field to advance.

DNA origami purification is essential for many fields, including biophysics, molecular engineering, and therapeutics. The increasing interest in DNA origami has led to the development of rate-zonal centrifugation (RZC) as a scalable, high yield, and contamination-free method for purifying DNA origami nanostructures. RZC purification uses a linear density gradient of viscous media, such as glycerol or sucrose, to separate molecules according to their mass and shape. However, many methods for creating density gradients are time-consuming because they rely on slow passive diffusion. To expedite the preparation time, we used a LEGO gradient mixer to generate rotational motion and rapidly create a quasi-continuous density gradient with a minimal layering of the viscous media. Rotating two layers of differing concentrations at an angle decreases the time needed to form the density gradient from a few hours to minutes. In this study, the density gradients created by the LEGO gradient mixer were used to purify 3 DNA origami shapes that have different aspect ratios and numbers of components, with an aspect ratio ranging from 1:1 to 1:100 and the number of components up to 2. The gradient created by our LEGO gradient mixer is sufficient to purify folded DNA origami nanostructures from excess staple strands, regardless of their aspect ratios. Moreover, the gradient was able to separate DNA origami dimers from DNA origami monomers. In light of recent advances in large-scale DNA origami production, our method provides an alternative for purifying DNA origami nanostructures in large (gram) quantities in resource-limited settings.

Antivirals are indispensable tools that can be targeted at viral domains directly or indirectly at cellular domains to obstruct viral infections and reduce pathogenicity. Despite their transformative use in healthcare, antivirals have been clinically approved to treat only 10 of the more than 200 known pathogenic human viruses. Additionally, many virus functions are intimately coupled with host cellular processes, which present challenges in antiviral development due to the limited number of clear targets per virus, necessitating an extensive insight into these molecular processes. Compounding this challenge, many viral pathogens have evolved to evade effective antivirals. We hypothesize that a Viral Attachment Blocking Chimera (VirABloC) composed of a viral binder and a bulky scaffold that sterically blocks interactions between a viral particle and a host cell may be suitable for the development of antivirals agnostic to the extravirion epitope that is being bound. We test this hypothesis by modifying a nanobody that specifically recognizes a non-essential epitope presented on the extra virion surface of Pseudorabies virus strain 486 with a 3-dimensional wireframe DNA origami structure ∼100 nm in diameter. The nanobody switches from having no inhibitory properties (tested up to 50 μM) to 4.2±0.9 nM IC50when conjugated with the DNA origami scaffold. Mechanistic studies support that inhibition is mediated by the non-covalent attachment of the DNA origami scaffold to the virus particle, which obstructs the attachment of the viruses onto host cells. These results support the potential of VirABloC as a generalizable approach to developing antivirals.