Genetic Control of Aerogel and Nanofoam Properties, Applied to Ni–MnO_x Cathode Design

Abstract

Aerogels are ultralight porous materials whose matrix structure can be formed by interlinking 880 nm long M13 phage particles. In theory, changing the phage properties would alter the aerogel matrix, but attempting this using the current production system leads to heterogeneous lengths. A phagemid system that yields a narrow length distribution that can be tuned in 0.3 nm increments from 50 to 2500 nm is designed and, independently, the persistence length varies from 14 to 68 nm by mutating the coat protein. A robotic workflow that automates each step from DNA construction to aerogel synthesis is used to build 1200 aerogels. This is applied to compare Ni-MnO x cathodes built using different matrixes, revealing a pareto-optimal relationship between performance metrics. This work demonstrates the application of genetic engineering to create "tuning knobs" to sweep through material parameter space; in this case, toward creating a physically strong and high-capacity battery.

Cryo-electron microscopy of the f1 filamentous phage reveals a new paradigm in viral infection and assembly

“…The design of this cassette that includes the (-) ori allows replication of both strands once the ssDNA has been excised. This in turn results in an increased nanorod production in comparison to the previously reported nanorod template plasmids containing only the (+) ori that allows only the positive strand replication from the template plasmid 32, 73, 74 .…”

Evolutionary Design of Self-Templated Supramolecular Fibrils Using M13 Bacteriophage for Tissue Engineering

“…The smaller size of ssDNA in HAPh S corresponds to a quarter of the full-length phage (240 nm/ 950 nm). 37 Quantification of the phages in bacterial amplification yielded approximately 70 wt% for HAPh S and 30 wt% for HAPh L (Figure S4 in the Supporting Information). We employed the self-templating assembly process to construct supramolecular fibrils using the dual length HAPh.…”

M13 phage: a versatile building block for a highly specific analysis platform

“…Major capsid protein pVIII consists of about 2700 copies, which accounts for 98% of the whole mass of M13 phage and contains 50 amino acids (AA). Each pVIII is composed of three domains: positively charged domain (40-50 AA) that interacts electrostatically with phage genomic DNA, intermediate hydrophobic domain (21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39), and the N-terminal domain (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20). A total of 2700 copies of pVIII protein are helically wrapped around phage DNA through electrostatic interaction between phage genomic DNA and the positively charged domain of pVIII protein, leaving the M13 surface with negative charge.…”

“…This advantage not only facilitates the convenient fabrication of phage display libraries, especially phage display antibody libraries [20], but also promoted large-scale production of ssDNA [18], for instance, DNA origami. In addition, by altering the size of the phagemid, the length of M13 nanofibers can be finely tuned from 50 to 1300 nm, which was used for constructing stiffness-tunable nanofoams and ultra-small M13 for in vivo targeted glioblastoma imaging and therapy [21,22]. Although phagemid display system achieved success in constructing phage display libraries, it may not be the perfect choice for fabricating M13-based functional materials due to the low yield of recombinant M13.…”