Entropic control of particle sizes during viral self-assembly
نویسندگان
چکیده
Morphologic diversity is observed across all families of viruses. Yet these supra-molecular assemblies are produced most of the time in a spontaneous way through complex molecular self-assembly scenarios. The modeling of these phenomena remains a challenging problem within the emerging field of Physical Virology. We present in this work a theoretical analysis aiming at highlighting the particular role of configuration entropy in the control of viral particle size distribution. Specializing this model to retroviruses like HIV-1, we predict a new mechanism of entropic control of both RNA uptake into the viral particle, and of the particle’s size distribution. Evidence of this peculiar behavior has been recently reported experimentally.
منابع مشابه
RNA Control of HIV-1 Particle Size Polydispersity
HIV-1, an enveloped RNA virus, produces viral particles that are known to be much more heterogeneous in size than is typical of non-enveloped viruses. We present here a novel strategy to study HIV-1 Viral Like Particles (VLP) assembly by measuring the size distribution of these purified VLPs and subsequent viral cores thanks to Atomic Force Microscopy imaging and statistical analysis. This stra...
متن کاملChemical and entropic control on the molecular self-assembly process
Molecular self-assembly refers to the spontaneous assembly of molecules into larger structures. In order to exploit molecular self-assembly for the bottom-up synthesis of nanomaterials, the effects of chemical control (strength of the directionality in the intermolecular interaction) and entropic control (temperature) on the self-assembly process should be clarified. Here we present a theoretic...
متن کاملA Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization for Mixed-Model Assembly Line Balancing with Different Skilled Workers
This paper presents a multi-objective Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm for worker assignment and mixed-model assembly line balancing problem when task times depend on the worker’s skill level. The objectives of this model are minimization of the number of stations (equivalent to the maximization of the weighted line efficiency), minimization of the weighted smoothness index and minim...
متن کاملEntropic self-assembly of freely rotating polyhedral particles confined to a flat interface.
The self-assembly of hard polyhedral particles confined to a flat interface is studied using Monte Carlo simulations. The particles are pinned to the interface by restricting their movement in the direction perpendicular to it while allowing their free rotations. The six different polyhedral shapes studied in this work are selected from a family of truncated cubes defined by a truncation parame...
متن کاملEstimating the Entropic Cost of Self-Assembly of Multiparticle Hydrogen-Bonded Aggregates Based on the Cyanuric Acid‚Melamine Lattice
The entropic component of the free energy of assembly for multiparticle hydrogen-bonded aggregates is analyzed using a model based on balls connected by rigid rods or flexible strings. The entropy of assembly, ∆S, is partitioned into translational, rotational, vibrational, and conformational components. While previously reported theoretical treatments of rotational and vibrational entropies for...
متن کامل