Encapsulation of Plant Viral Particles in Calcite Crystals

Abstract

architectures, the organisms exert an impressive degree of control over the location, orientation, size, and morphology of the organic components into the inorganic matrix. [7-11] This phenomenon has inspired an immense amount of research into the related structural assets of the biocomposite materials and their relations toward the properties of macromolecules and organic dyes incorporated into inorganic and organic crystals. [12-18] One of the applications of the biomineralization principles that could have a tremendous economic impact on the "cold chain" is the thermal stabilization of the occluded bioactive molecules. A majority of conventional vaccines require storage within a narrow temperature range to maintain efficacy, which poses serious limitations with the delivery of vaccines to remote locations with extreme climates or with underdeveloped infrastructure. To circumvent these problems previous studies have developed formulations for stabile vaccine products. [19-22] The encapsulation of the bioactive material in inorganic matrices could also thermally stabilize the material and eventually may make the cold chain unnecessary. Being a common constituent of hard-shell living organisms such as corals, shells, and coccolithophores, and its prevalence in geology, calcite has received special attention as an inorganic host for biomolecules and a variety of dopants

Implications of intracrystalline OC17 on the protection of lattice incorporated proteins

“…38 Nanoparticles 29,30,[38][39][40] and polymers [41][42][43][44][45] have been incorporated, while amino acids have been used to assist incorporation of targets 46 or to investigate the effect of incorporation on lattice strain. 29,[32][33][34][35][36][37] GFP-perlucin fusion 47 and cowpea mosaic virus 48 have been incorporated in CaCO 3 . A recent citizen science project also discussed the influence of amino acids and related additives on calcite and vaterite.…”

Metal–Organic Framework Encapsulated Whole-Cell Vaccines Enhance Humoral Immunity against Bacterial Infection

“…Methods to slow the release of antigens via an injected depot have profoundly positive effects on development of long-term antibody-based immunity by promoting germinal center (GC) formation in the draining lymph nodes. − GCs are the primary site of B-cell maturation into antibody-producing plasma B-cells. Whereas thermoplastics, − liposomes, − micelles, , porous silicon, − and polypeptides , have shown promise for small protein release and antigen delivery, − it is not clear how these technologies will translate to whole-cell formulations. Methods to fully encapsulate “large cargo” such as whole bacterial cells are less explored.…”

Efficient occlusion of oil droplets within calcite crystals

“…nanoparticles [4][5][6][7][8][9] or organic molecules [10][11][12][13][14] ) within host crystals. In principle, efficient additive occlusion should enable the preparation of a range of new nanocomposite crystals [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] and, at least in some cases, also enhance our understanding of biomineralization. [23][24][25][26][27] However, the incorporation of oil droplets into host crystals has not yet been explored.…”