"

From 2012.igem.org

---

Revision as of 14:39, 18 September 2012

Modifying the outside of a VLP

The monomers of virus-like particles (VLPs) have been subject to many modifications of which some are aimed at changing the appearance of the particle. By changing the outside, the VLP acquires new properties which have been used mainly in vaccine development (ref 5epis and others). The modification we pursue is adding a coil to the protein subunits, at any location that is exposed on the outside of the VLP. This can be a fusion to a C or N-terminal, but a modification in a loop is possible as well. The goal of the coil is to serve as a docking site for ligands which are modified to contain a coil subunit. A coil on the outside plays a rather important role expanding the applications of VLPs. It forms the link between the VLP and a functional group, such as a ligand or antigen.