Vishwakarma Pragati, Puri Sarita, Banerjee Manidipa, Chang Chia-Yu, Chang Chia-Ching, Chaudhuri Tapan K
Kusuma School of Biological Science, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi 110016, India.
Department of Bioscience, University of Milan, Milan 20133, Italy.
ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 2024 Aug 12;10(8):4812-4822. doi: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.4c00770. Epub 2024 Jul 8.
RNA bacteriophage MS2-derived virus-like particles (VLPs) have been widely used in biomedical research as model systems to study virus assembly, structure-function relationships, vaccine development, and drug delivery. Considering the diverse utility of these VLPs, a systemic engineering approach has been utilized to generate smaller particles with optimal serum stability and tissue penetrance. Additionally, it is crucial to demonstrate the overall stability of these mini MS2 VLPs, ensuring cargo protection until they reach their target cell/organ. However, no detailed analysis of the thermal stability and heat-induced disassembly of MS2 VLPs has yet been attempted. In this work, we investigated the thermal stability of both wild-type (WT) MS2 VLP and its "mini" variant containing S37P mutation (mini MS2 VLP). The mini MS2 VLP exhibits a higher capsid melting temperature () when compared to its WT MS2 VLP counterpart, possibly attributed to its smaller interdimer angle. Our study presents that the thermal unfolding of MS2 VLPs follows a sequential process involving particle destabilization, nucleic acid exposure/melting, and disassembly of VLP. This observation underscores the disruption of cooperative intersubunit interactions and protein-nucleic acid interactions, shedding light on the mechanism of heat-induced VLP disassembly.
源自RNA噬菌体MS2的病毒样颗粒(VLPs)作为模型系统,已被广泛应用于生物医学研究,用于研究病毒组装、结构-功能关系、疫苗开发和药物递送。鉴于这些VLPs的多种用途,已采用一种系统工程方法来生成具有最佳血清稳定性和组织穿透性的更小颗粒。此外,证明这些微型MS2 VLPs的整体稳定性至关重要,以确保货物在到达靶细胞/器官之前得到保护。然而,尚未有人尝试对MS2 VLPs的热稳定性和热诱导解离进行详细分析。在这项工作中,我们研究了野生型(WT)MS2 VLP及其含有S37P突变的“微型”变体(微型MS2 VLP)的热稳定性。与野生型MS2 VLP相比,微型MS2 VLP表现出更高的衣壳解链温度(),这可能归因于其较小的二聚体间角度。我们的研究表明,MS2 VLPs的热解折叠遵循一个顺序过程,包括颗粒不稳定、核酸暴露/解链以及VLP的解离。这一观察结果强调了亚基间协同相互作用和蛋白质-核酸相互作用的破坏,揭示了热诱导VLP解离的机制。