Mechanical properties of the icosahedral shell of southern bean mosaic virus: a molecular dynamics study.

ABSTRACT: The mechanical properties of viral shells are crucial for viral assembly and infection. To study their distribution and heterogeneity on the viral surface, we performed atomistic force-probe molecular dynamics simulations of the complete shell of southern bean mosaic virus, a prototypical T = 3 virus, in explicit solvent. The simulation system comprised more than 4,500,000 atoms. To facilitate direct comparison with atomic-force microscopy (AFM) measurements, a Lennard-Jones sphere was used as a model of the AFM tip, and was pushed with different velocities toward the capsid protein at 19 different positions on the viral surface. A detailed picture of the spatial distribution of elastic constants and yielding forces was obtained that can explain corresponding heterogeneities observed in pr

SUBMITTER: Zink M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2717248 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature