Vir[i/ii/a/uses] As Nano-Blueprints? (Updated)

Auxon writes: "The Washington Post reports that researchers at the University of Texas "... have discovered that tiny protein-like strands on the surface of common viruses--the sort of molecules that enable germs to identify and grasp their target cells--also bind tightly and very selectively to materials widely used in high-tech electronics ..." They believe that this could be used to make templates with which they can grow circuits, in the same sort of manner that cells use calcium and other materials to produce bones, and oysters build their shells." I bet industrial sabotage could take on a whole new dimension with this as well. [Updated 9 June 3:55GMT by timothy] Pick your favorite plural of "virus" above :) All are supported by at least one comment posted below, but I concede the "ii" is probably best left to computer -- errr -- viruses.

Comments

Re:Virii?

[jonnythan]

I'd like to know where you got viri. References, or something? The conjugation (I suppose that's what it is in Latin) of a noun in Latin doesn't mean that form is an English word.

According to Miriam-Webster's, the Oxford English Dictionary (a huge volume I have in print), dictionary.com, Brittanica, and Encarta, the plural for virus - in English now - is viruses. None of these sources have any entry or make any reference to either "viri" or "virii."

FYI

[yuriwho]

Sorry for the long post but I'd like to try and explain what was actually done here.

I just read the paper and what the researchers have shown is that they can identify short peptides(<=12 amino acids) that can bind to inorganic surfaces selectively (ie bind to GaAs but not SiO2). They accomplished this feat using a technique that is widely used in the molecular biology research community...Phage Display.

Basically a bacteriophage is a virus that infects bacteria. Viruses are molecular machines that consist of an outer protein shell holding the nucleic acids which contain the instructions for making more copies of the nucleic acids and the protein shell. The Protein shell contains a few copies of the P3 coat protein (5 in the case of the virus used here). This protein recognizes the cell to be infected and triggers the process of cell entry, whereupon the virus enter the cell and hijacks the cellular macinery to produce many copies of the virus. In this way the virus replicates.

These biologists added a random sequence of 36 nucleotides (DNA bases) to the end of the DNA sequence that encodes the P3 coat protein. Now the virus will produce a P3 protein that has 12 additional random amino acids added to the end of P3 (3 DNA bases make a codon that encodes one amino acid), giving 20^12 possible unique P3 proteins (20 amino acids at each position, 12 positions).

Then they created a pool of ~10^9 phage (way fewer than the possible 20^12) and selected for phage with peptide sequences that bound to the desired material (GaAs) by affinity selection. Those viruses that bound were amplified in bacteria following elution from the material. The selection is repeated several times to identify the tightest binding peptide sequences.

Using this process, they found peptides that bound selectively to many different semiconductor surfaces and speculate that somehow this could be used to create new circuitry.

What they have done is use a standard molecular biology technique to find peptides (short polymers of amino acids) that bind selectively to inorganic surfaces of a given composition.

At the end of the article they speculate that by joining two peptides selected for binding to two different materials they can get peptides that would bind selectively at the interface between two material surfaces. I think this is the nano part of the technology as those interfaces must be created by conventional means. This method may allow finer features to be created.

Overall this is an interesting paper that opens up new possibilities but as usual in the nanotech field, it is a long way from being useful.

Hope that made sense

Cheers

let's get this straight.

[streetlawyer]

OK, I'm not exactly a techno-geek, but with seven years of Hah-vud Law School behind me, I think that a bit of Latin has rubbed off on me. Here's the explanation:

"Virus" comes from the Latin word "Vi", meaning "crappy text editor". It is pluralised because one is creating the concept of multiple vi, adding feature after feature to create a completely bloated, horrifically crappy text editor.

To then double-pluralise it, one would be creating a concept of a text editor bloated beyond the point of reason, so that you actually question your own sanity.

I therefore submit that the plural of "Virus" is "Emacs".

So how fast would they grow?

[Dreamweaver]

"Hey Phil, did you leave the incubator on last night?"
"Don't think so Mike, why?"
"Well, we seem to have a supercomputer where the lab used to be."



Dreamweaver