The Role of Counterions in the Assembly of Charged Virus-Like Shells.

ABSTRACT: Synthetic virus-like particles (VLP), designed from simplified building blocks, can reduce the complexity of native viral proteins and be tailored for specific applications. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we investigate the role of counterions (H₂PO₄^-, PO₄^3-, Cl^-, and F^-) in stabilizing a preassembled virus-like shell formed by cationic peptides exemplified by synthetic cyclopeptide (sequence: cyc-Gln-DLeu-Arg-DLeu-Arg-DLeu-Arg-DLeu) VLP shells. Our findings reveal that polyatomic anions (H₂PO₄^- and PO₄^3-) facilitate stable assemblies by condensing on the VLP shell to higher degrees, thereby neutralizing Coulombic repulsion among the peptide building bl

SUBMITTER: Hsiao YW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12478857 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature