4. Engineering Viruses and VLPs for Enhanced Biotemplate
Properties
Improved understanding of TMV and BSMV structural biology and molecular
biology has informed a number of strategies to control and enhance
biotemplate properties. These include improved structural stability to
enable synthesis of more diverse nanomaterials, control of VLP
architecture and enhanced uniform coating to control physical
properties, and more versatile conjugation capabilities to tune
function. These modifications are powered by the flexibility of the
CP-encoding nucleic acids, which can be readily engineered via genetic
tools.