Structure and self-assembly of viruses
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چکیده
In a landmark paper Sir Aaron Klug and Don Caspar have established a theory that predicts the surface structures of viruses in terms of a family of polyhedra [1]. It is fundamental in virology and has a broad spectrum of applications, ranging from image analysis of experimental data to the construction of models for the self-assembly of viral capsids (i.e. of the protein shells encapsulating, and hence providing protection for, the viral genome). Despite its huge success, experimental results have provided evidence for the fact that this theory is incomplete, and in particular cannot account for the structure of viruses in the family of Papovaviridae, which are of particular interest for the public health sector because they contain cancer-causing viruses. Based on group theory and tiling theory we have developed a theory that closes this gap [2,3]. It leads to a new series of polyhedra, the triacontahedral series [4], that corresponds to the particles observed during the self-assembly of the major capsid proteins of viruses in the family of Papovaviridae. Among others, it allows to classify the malformations that may occur during self-assembly (e.g. [5]). The new theory has opened up various areas of application.
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