Periodic table of virus capsids: implications for natural selection and design.

ABSTRACT:

Background

For survival, most natural viruses depend upon the existence of spherical capsids: protective shells of various sizes composed of protein subunits. So far, general evolutionary pressures shaping capsid design have remained elusive, even though an understanding of such properties may help in rationally impeding the virus life cycle and designing efficient nano-assemblies.

Principal findings

This report uncovers an unprecedented and species-independent evolutionary pressure on virus capsids, based on the the notion that the simplest capsid designs (or those capsids with the lowest "hexamer complexity", C(h)) are the fittest, which was shown to be true for all available virus capsids. The theories result in a physically meaningful periodic table of virus capsids that

SUBMITTER: Mannige RV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2831995 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature