2008/03/31 by D. C. Rapaport · 3 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Environmental Science · Medicine · Physics and Astronomy · #Bacteriophages and microbial interactions #Diffusion and Search Dynamics #Virology and Viral Diseases #cond-mat.soft
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.101.186101
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 101 (2008) 186101 · 4 pages, 4 figures (slightly shorter version, new Fig.2); further minor changes
arxiv created 2008/10/03 · openalex publication_date 2008/10/28 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Self-assembly at submicroscopic scales is an important but little understood phenomenon. A prominent example is virus capsid growth, whose underlying behavior can be modeled using simple particles that assemble into polyhedral shells. Molecular dynamics simulation of shell formation in the presence of an atomistic solvent provides new insight into the self-assembly mechanism, notably that growth proceeds via a cascade of strongly reversible steps and, despite the large variety of possible intermediates, only a small fraction of highly bonded forms appear on the pathway.