Avi Blizovsky
The virus is spherical and 30 nanometers in diameter
British scientists from the University of Norwich have used a plant-damaging virus to create nanotechnology building blocks. The virus that attacks the lantern pea", an annual legume grown in the southern US for forage and soil improvement. The virus served as a "scaffold" to which other chemical substances were attached.
By attaching iron-containing components to the surface of the virus, the team from the John Innes Center was able to create electrically active nanoparticles.
The researchers told the nanotechnology journal "Small" that their work could be used in the future to create tiny electrical components.
The research is just another example of scientists trying to engineer objects on the scale of atoms and molecules. At the nanometer scale, materials can be tuned to have unusual properties that can be exploited to build components and systems that are fast, light, strong and much more efficient.
The mosaic virus in the experiment attacks the black-eyed pea (Vigna unguiculata) and causes the leaves of the plant to become more yellow and full of spots. The virus is not dangerous to humans or animals. As mentioned, its diameter is 30 nanometers - as you remember, one nanometer is one billionth of a meter.
"We began to think of these viruses as nanometer building blocks," explained Dr. David Evans, a chemist at the John Innes Center, and lead author of the article in the journal SMALL. "Because they have the desired size and spherical shape, we thought it would be useful as a template or scaffold in nanotechnology .
They know nano technology
For news on the subject at the BBC
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