engleski

Generic physics and molecular specificity in viruses: which is which?

There are huge number of virus species, most of them evolved to replicate in a specific host. The different viruses all have different genomes encoding different proteins, so that each specie represents a particular molecular machine, which specific chemical composition and phenotype. Viral phenotypes are simple - a lot of viruses can be thought of as shells (capsids) assembled from many (nearly) identical proteins which encapsulate the virus genome. The mechanics of the shells is influenced by the proteins which constitute them, yet there must be more generic aspects of the physics of the shell overarching the chemical specificity [1, 2, 3]. The generic aspects should be prominent at the spatial scales typical for viruses (~ 50 - 500 nm) and it is important to clearly separate them from molecular specificity and identify the elements of the physics which do not depend on the molecular details [4]. This task is required in order to identify the wider, evolutionary available space of physical possibilities [1, 4], which the different virus species may sample and exploit in different manners [2, 3]. The more generic, physical approach, to viruses is sometimes called 'physical virology'. The usefulness of such an approach can be illustrated in the extraction of non-specific aspects of electrostatic interactions in viruses [1, 2, 4] and elasticity of viruses [3, 5, 6]. [1] A. Šiber, A. Lošdorfer Božič, and R. Podgornik, Phys.Chem.Chem.Phys. 14, (2012) 3746. [2] A. Lošdorfer Božič, A. Šiber, and R. Podgornik, J. Biol. Phys. 38, (2012) 657. [3] A. Lošdorfer Božič, A. Šiber, and R. Podgornik, J. Biol. Phys. 39, (2013) 215. [4] S. Marion, C. San Martín, A. Šiber, Biophys. J. 113, (2017) 1643. [5] A. Šiber, Sci. Rep. 6, (2016) 29012. [6] A. Šiber, Phys. Rev. E 73, (2006) 061915.

virus, assembly, topology, electrostatics, elasticity, pressure, swelling, packing

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