Viruses are highly ordered supramolecular complexes that have evolved to propagate by
hijacking the host cell's machinery. Although viruses are very diverse, spreading through …

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

The survival of viruses partly relies on their ability to self-assemble inside host cells.
Although coarse-grained simulations have identified different pathways leading to …

Simple RNA viruses self-assemble spontaneously and encapsulate their genome into a
shell called the capsid. This process is mainly driven by the attractive electrostatics …

Viruses, entities composed of nucleic acids, proteins, and in some cases lipids lack the
ability to replicate outside their target cells. Their components self-assemble at the …

Canonical analysis has long been the primary analysis method for studies of phase
transitions. However, this approach is not sensitive enough if transition signals are too close …

Many variants of RNA, DNA, and even proteins can be considered semiflexible polymers,
where bending stiffness, as a type of energetic penalty, competes with attractive van der …

We explore how the stability of RNA viruses depends on genome topology and interactions
between RNA and the capsid proteins. RNA is modeled as a branched polymer with 12 …

Selective adsorption of flexible polymers, where only a fraction of the “sticker” monomers
can be adsorbed, confined to a cylindrical pore, is studied within the self-consistent field …

Virus-like particles (VLPs), due to their nanoscale dimensions, presence of interior cavities,
self-organization abilities and responsiveness to environmental changes, are of interest in …