Related papers: Fine Structure of Viral dsDNA Encapsidation

Liquid crystals formed by acute-angle bent-core (ABC) molecules with a 1,7 naphthalene central core show an intriguing phase behavior with the nematic phase accompanied by poorly understood additional phases. In this work, we characterize…

We apply Landau theory of crystallization to explain and to classify the capsid structures of small viruses with spherical topology and icosahedral symmetry. We develop an explicit method which predicts the positions of centers of mass for…

A pentagonal order formed by 360 proteins in the bovine papilloma viral capsid and structures of some smaller viral capsids are considered from a unified point of view based on the Landau crystallization theory. To simulate the capsid…

DNA frequently adopts liquid-crystalline conformations in both cells and viruses. The Oseen--Frank framework provides a powerful continuum description of these phases through three elastic moduli: splay ($K_1$), twist or cholesteric…

The structural organisation of the viral genome within its protein container, called the viral capsid, is an important aspect of virus architecture. Many single-stranded (ss) RNA viruses organise a significant part of their genome in a…

Recent studies reveal that certain viruses package a portion of their genome in a manner that mirrors the icosahedral symmetry of the protein container, or capsid. Graph theoretical constraints forbid exact realization of icosahedral…

Many simple RNA viruses enclose their genetic material by a protein shell called the capsid. While the capsid structures are well characterized for most viruses, the structure of RNA inside the shells and the factors contributing to it…

The assembly and maturation of viruses with icosahedral capsids must be coordinated with icosahedral symmetry. The icosahedral symmetry imposes also the restrictions on the cooperative specific interactions between genomic RNA/DNA and coat…

We investigate the orientational order of transverse polarization vectors of long columns of nucleosomal core particles and their coupling to positional order in high density mesophases discovered recently. Inhomogeneous polar ordering of…

Hard convex polyhedra, idealized models for anisotropic colloids and nanoparticles, are known to form variety of orientational phases despite the regular arrangement of particles in the crystalline assemblies. Based on the orientational…

Computer simulations give precious insight into the microscopic behavior of supercooled liquids and glasses, but their typical time scales are orders of magnitude shorter than the experimentally relevant ones. We recently closed this gap…

During the lifecycle of many single-stranded RNA viruses, including many human pathogens, a protein shell called the capsid spontaneously assembles around the viral genome. Understanding the mechanisms by which capsid proteins selectively…

The problem of RNA genomes packaged inside spherical viruses is studied. The viral capsid is modeled as a hollowed sphere. The attraction between RNA molecules and the inner viral capsid is assumed to be non-specific and occurs at the inner…

The ability of double-stranded DNA or RNA to locally melt and form kinks leads to strong non-linear elasticity effects that qualitatively affect their packing in confined spaces. Using analytical theory and numerical simulation we show that…

Just like atoms combine into molecules, colloids can self-organize into predetermined structures according to a set of design principles. Controlling valence -- the number of inter-particle bonds -- is a prerequisite for the assembly of…

Inspired to understand the complex spectrum of space-filling organizations the dsDNA genome within the capsid of bacterial viruses, we study a minimal, coarse-grained model of single chains densely-packed into a finite spherical volume. We…

On the example of exceptional families of viruses we i) show the existence of a completely new type of matter organization in nanoparticles, in which the regions with a chiral pentagonal quasicrystalline order of protein positions are…

We demonstrate a variety of ordered patterns, including hexagonal structures and chains, formed by colloidal particles (droplets) at the free surface of a nematic liquid crystal (LC). The surface placement introduces a new type of particle…

Simple RNA viruses self-assemble spontaneously and encapsulate their genome into a shell called the capsid. This process is mainly driven by the attractive electrostatic interaction between the positive charges on capsid proteins and the…

The phase diagram of a water solution of DNA and oppositely charged spherical macroions is studied. DNA winds around spheres to form beads-on-a-string complexes resembling the chromatin 10 nm fiber. At small enough concentration of spheres…