New paradigm for self-assembly: Role of reversibility in viral capsid growth
Abstract
Self-assembly at submicroscopic scales is an important but little understood class of phenomena. A prominent example is virus capsid growth, the underlying behavior of which can be modeled using simplified particles that assemble into polyhedral shells. Molecular dynamics simulations of shell formation in the presence of an atomistic solvent are found to provide new insight into the mechanisms of self-assembly, notably that shell 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 assembly pathway. Kinetic traps are avoided due to a tendency of partial shells to lose rather than gain members, thereby ensuring a robust process that eventually leads to successful assembly. High yields of closed shells can be achieved under suitable conditions.Keywords
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