Date of Award
Spring 2026
Degree Type
Honors College Thesis
Academic Program
Chemistry BS
Department
Chemistry and Biochemistry
First Advisor
Dr. Shohreh Hemmati
Advisor Department
Chemistry and Biochemistry
Abstract
Viral biotemplating has become an exciting approach towards the production of nanomaterials with a controlled size and morphology. Rod-shaped plant viruses provide structurally consistent scaffolds that can guide the assembly of inorganic nanostructures, which can offer a biologically inspired platform to nanoscale material design. In the current study, computational modeling was used to examine the effect of palladium precursor chemistry on the reaction with viral protein templates. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to test the stability of the viral scaffold, and the influence of N-terminal and C-terminal His-tag on protein flexibility. These simulations revealed that the viral coat protein is structurally stable, especially in C-terminal His-tagged form. The C-terminal His-tagged Barley Stripe Mosaic Virus (BSMV) coat protein was used to simulate molecular docking with four palladium precursors: PdCl2, Na2PdCl4, K2PdCl4, and Na2PdBr4. The docking outcomes indicated that palladium precursors, especially Na2PdCl4, are selective to bind to surface regions that are concentrated on charged and polar residues, and electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding contribute to the stability of precursor association. To examine the palladium mineralization of Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV) with Na2PdCl4 as a precursor, experimental studies were done. After a buffer exchange, two-step mineralization was conducted, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis showed a sequence of intact viral scaffolds to more homogeneous and continuous palladium coating on the TMV surface. Combined with these findings, they give a molecular-scale understanding of the interactions between precursors and the virus and develop a computational framework to understand how precursor chemistry can affect palladium deposition behavior during virus-templated nanomaterial synthesis.
Copyright
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Recommended Citation
Hayes, Emilie, "Optimizing Barley Stripped Mosaic Virus Coat Protein Stability for Palladium Nanorod Biotemplating via Terminal His-Tag Positioning" (2026). Honors Theses. 1103.
https://aquila.usm.edu/honors_theses/1103