Optimal architectures of elongated viruses.

ABSTRACT: Many viruses protect their genetic material by a closed elongated protein shell. Unlike spherical viruses, the structure of these prolates is not yet well understood, and only a few of them have been fully characterized. We present the results of a simple phenomenological model, which describes the remarkable structures of prolate or bacilliform viral shells. Surprisingly, we find that the special well-defined geometry of these elongated viruses arises just as a consequence of free-energy minimization of a generic interaction between the structural units of the capsid. Hemispherical T-number caps centered along the 5-, 3-, and 2-fold axes with hexagonally ordered cylindrical bodies are found to be local energy minima, thus justifying their occurrence as optimal viral structures. Moreover,

SUBMITTER: Luque A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2851771 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature