作者
WH Roos, R Bruinsma, GJL Wuite
发表日期
2010/10
来源
Nature physics
卷号
6
期号
10
页码范围
733-743
出版商
Nature Publishing Group UK
简介
Viruses are nanosized, genome-filled protein containers with remarkable thermodynamic and mechanical properties. They form by spontaneous self-assembly inside the crowded, heterogeneous cytoplasm of infected cells. Self-assembly of viruses seems to obey the principles of thermodynamically reversible self-assembly but assembled shells (‘capsids’) strongly resist disassembly. Following assembly, some viral shells pass through a sequence of coordinated maturation steps that progressively strengthen the capsid. Nanoindentation measurements by atomic force microscopy enable tests of the strength of individual viral capsids. They show that concepts borrowed from macroscopic materials science are surprisingly relevant to viral shells. For example, viral shells exhibit ‘materials fatigue’ and the theory of thin-shell elasticity can account — in part — for atomic-force-microscopy-measured force–deformation …
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