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Unusual packing of soft-shelled nanocubes.

ABSTRACT: Space-filling generally governs hard particle packing and the resulting phases and interparticle orientations. Contrastingly, hard-shaped nanoparticles with grafted soft-ligands pack differently since the energetically interacting soft-shell is amenable to nanoscale sculpturing. While the interplay between the shape and soft-shell can lead to unforeseen packing effects, little is known about the underlying physics. Here, using electron microscopy and small-angle x-ray scattering, we demonstrate that nanoscale cubes with soft, grafted DNA shells exhibit remarkable packing, distinguished by orientational symmetry breaking of cubes relative to the unit cell vectors. This zigzag arrangement occurs in flat body-centered tetragonal and body-centered cubic phases. We ascribe this unique arrangement to the interplay between shape and a spatially anisotropic shell resulting from preferential grafting of ligands to regions of high curvature. These observations reveal the decisive role played by shell-modulated anisotropy in nanoscale packing and suggest a plethora of new spatial organizations for molecularly decorated shaped nanoparticles.

SUBMITTER: Lu F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6524981 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Vibrio cholerae is an important human pathogen and environmental microflora species that can both propagate in the human intestine and proliferate in zooplankton and aquatic organisms. Cholera is transmitted through food and water. In recent years, outbreaks caused by V. cholerae-contaminated soft-shelled turtles, contaminated mainly with toxigenic serogroup O139, have been frequently reported, posing a new foodborne disease public health problem. In this study, the colonization by toxigenic V. cholerae on the body surfaces and intestines of soft-shelled turtles was explored. Preferred colonization sites on the turtle body surfaces, mainly the carapace and calipash of the dorsal side, were observed for the O139 and O1 strains. Intestinal colonization was also found. The colonization factors of V. cholerae played different roles in the colonization of the soft-shelled turtle's body surface and intestine. Mannose-sensitive hemagglutinin (MSHA) of V. cholerae was necessary for body surface colonization, but no roles were found for toxin-coregulated pili (TCP) or N-acetylglucosamine-binding protein A (GBPA). Both TCP and GBPA play important roles for colonization in the intestine, whereas the deletion of MSHA revealed only a minor colonization-promoting role for this factor. Our study demonstrated that V. cholerae can colonize the surfaces and the intestines of soft-shelled turtles and indicated that the soft-shelled turtles played a role in the transmission of cholera. In addition, this study showed that the soft-shelled turtle has potential value as an animal model in studies of the colonization and environmental adaption mechanisms of V. cholerae in aquatic organisms.IMPORTANCE Cholera is transmitted through water and food. Soft-shelled turtles contaminated with Vibrio cholerae (commonly the serogroup O139 strains) have caused many foodborne infections and outbreaks in recent years, and they have become a foodborne disease problem. Except for epidemiological investigations, no experimental studies have demonstrated the colonization by V. cholerae on soft-shelled turtles. The present studies will benefit our understanding of the interaction between V. cholerae and the soft-shelled turtle. We demonstrated the colonization by V. cholerae on the soft-shelled turtle's body surface and in the intestine and revealed the different roles of major V. cholerae factors for colonization on the body surface and in the intestine. Our work provides experimental evidence for the role of soft-shelled turtles in cholera transmission. In addition, this study also shows the possibility for the soft-shelled turtle to serve as a new animal model for studying the interaction between V. cholerae and aquatic hosts.

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Unusual packing of soft-shelled nanocubes.

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