Author(s)

Pouya Moghimian¹, Vesna Srot¹, Benoit P. Pichon², Sandra J. Facey³, Peter A. van Aken¹

¹Stuttgart Center for Electron Microscopy, Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart, Germany.
²Institut de Physique et Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg, UMR 7504 CNRS—Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France.
³Institute of Technical Biochemistry, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany.

The effect of different types of organic solvents on the structural integrity of M13 phages has been directly visualized by transmission and scanning electron microscopy. The exposure of M13 phages to apolar hexane had no effect on the structure of the phages for up to 8 h. In contrast, phages showed ~10-fold contraction into rod-like I-forms and to flattened spheroids with ~12 nm diameter upon exposure to polar organic solvents. We show that this finding can be beneficial for the macromolecular self-assembly and in broader aspects, to enhance the spatial arrangement of desired inorganic nanoparticles in the rapidly developing field of virotronics.

M13 Phage, Organic Solvent, Structural Integrity, Self-Assembly, Electron Microscopy

Moghimian, P. , Srot, V. , Pichon, B. , Facey, S. and Aken, P. (2016) Stability of M13 Phage in Organic Solvents. Journal of Biomaterials and Nanobiotechnology, 7, 72-77. doi: 10.4236/jbnb.2016.72009.