Over the past decade, molecule biologicals have been utilized in the synthesis of diverse materials. One such molecule biological is the M13 bacteriophage, which is exploited to fabricate defined chemical and physical structures. The filamentous virus M13 is a bacterial guest, completely innocuous to human beings. The M13 phage consists of a single DNA in a coat protein, whose major helical protein is called p8 and is 800 nm in length and 6 nm in diameter. The p8 protein has a helical structure and approximately 2700 subunits. [1]. On both tips there are a few distinct proteins (p3, p6, p7 and p9). The protein p8 can undergo modification via genetic engineering or chemical conjugation. It can acquire different functionalities such as the nucleation of different materials.

In this work, we focus on the use of the M13 phage as a platform for the synthesis of noble metal nanoparticles (Au, Ag or Cu) and the formation of liquid crystals at different concentrations. We genetically engineered the amino acid sequence of the protein p8 to understand that a single charge mutation on the capsid affects direct inter-viral interactions. It has also been analyzed whether a single hydrophobic mutation located at the hydrophobic interface that stabilized capsid assembly alters the atomic structure of the phage, mainly affecting inter-subunit interactions and controlling the macroscopic arrays [2]. The introduction of new functional chemical groups, such as thiol groups, is related to the conjugation of noble metal nanoparticles [3].

The M13 phage has the capacity to self-organize into liquid crystal phases depending on the molecular structure of the p8 protein [4], in different concentrations, being nematic (10-20 mg/mL), cholesteric (20-80 mg/mL) and at high concentrations smetic-phase (100 mg/mL) [4]. Furthermore, it can form hierarchically organized rigid and soft platforms. We used different methods to obtain thin films, for example, using the dip coating technique, and, in this way, obtained different liquid crystal phases by modifying parameters such as speed and concentrations.