Patent ID: 7670801

Claim:
A method of purifying a protein or non-proteinaceous small molecule of interest, comprising: (a) providing a plant virus having on its surface at least one recognition peptide, or preparing a plant viral expression vector which upon infection of an organism yields particles of the virus, wherein said virus or viral expression vector is genetically modified to produce said recognition peptide; (b) obtaining a host that produces the protein or small molecule of interest independent from or due to presence of the virus therein; and (c) infecting the host with the virus or the viral expression vector whereby particles of the virus form complexes with the protein or small molecule via the peptide recognition sequence, followed by harvesting the complexes of the virus and protein from the host, or contacting a lysate or solution of the host with the virus, whereby particles of the virus form complexes with the protein or small molecule via the peptide recognition sequence, and the protein or small molecule is separated from the solution.