Block copolymer (BCP) represents a special type of polymeric system where each of the
polymer chains is composed of two or more chemically distinct homopolymer blocks that are …

We review approaches aimed at deciphering the physical mechanisms responsible for viral
structure and assembly. We discuss the basic principles of condensed matter physics …

Previous self-assembly experiments on a model icosahedral plant virus have shown that,
under physiological conditions, capsid proteins initially bind to the genome through an en …

Highlights•Multiple, common dispersed packaging signals (PSs) promote RNA virus
assembly.•PS-mediated assembly solves a viral equivalent of Levinthal's Paradox.•RNA PSs …

In this work, we study kinklike structures, which are localized solutions that appear in models
described by real scalar fields. The model to be considered is characterized by two real …

Under many in vitro conditions, some small viruses spontaneously encapsidate a single
stranded (ss) RNA into a protein shell called the capsid. While viral RNAs are found to be …

Viruses have established relationships with almost every other living organism on Earth and
at all levels of biological organization: from other viruses up to entire ecosystems. In most …

The formation of a viral particle generally involves hundreds of proteins, making the
assembly process intricate. Despite its intrinsic complexity, the production of a viral particle …

The ground state dominance approximation (GSDA) has been extensively used to study the
assembly of viral shells. In this work we employ the self-consistent field theory (SCFT) to …

Single-stranded RNA viruses efficiently encapsulate their genome into a protein shell called
the capsid. Electrostatic interactions between the positive charges in the capsid protein's N …