Structurally plastic peptide capsules for synthetic antimicrobial viruses† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Materials and methods, microscopy, spectroscopy, electrophoretic and X-ray scattering data. See DOI: 10.1039/c5sc03260a Click here for additional data file. Click here for additional data file.

A conceptual design for artificial antimicrobial viruses is described. The design emulates viral assembly and function to create self-assembling peptide capsules that promote efficient gene delivery and silencing in mammalian cells. Unlike viruses, however, the capsules are antimicrobial, which allows them to exhibit a dual biological function: gene transport and antimicrobial activity. Unlike other antimicrobials, the capsules act as pre-concentrated antimicrobial agents that elicit rapid and localised membrane-disrupting responses by converting into individual pores at their precise landing positions on membranes. The concept holds promise for engineering virus-like scaffolds with biologically tuneable properties.