Viral self-assembly as a thermodynamic process

Robijn F. Bruinsma; William M. Gelbart; David Reguera; Joseph Rudnick; Roya Zandi

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.90.248101

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arXiv · cond-mat/0211390

Viral self-assembly as a thermodynamic process

Robijn F. Bruinsma·William M. Gelbart·David Reguera·Joseph Rudnick·Roya Zandi

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Abstract

The protein shells, or capsids, of all sphere-like viruses adopt icosahedral symmetry. In the present paper we propose a statistical thermodynamic model for viral self-assembly. We find that icosahedral symmetry is not expected for viral capsids constructed from structurally identical protein subunits and that this symmetry requires (at least) two internal "switching" configurations of the protein. Our results indicate that icosahedral symmetry is not a generic consequence of free energy minimization but requires optimization of internal structural parameters of the capsid proteins.

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Robijn F. Bruinsma, William M. Gelbart, David Reguera, Joseph Rudnick, Roya Zandi. 2003-07-31. Viral self-assembly as a thermodynamic process. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.90.248101

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