Exploring the symmetry and mechanism of virus capsid maturation via an ensemble of pathways.
Many icosahedral viruses undergo large-scale conformational transitions between icosahedrally symmetric conformations during their life cycles. However, whether icosahedral symmetry is maintained along the transition pathways for this process is unknown. By employing a simplified and directed structure-based potential we compute an ensemble of transition pathways for the maturation transition of bacteriophage HK97. We observe localized symmetry-breaking events, but find that the large-scale displacements are dominated by icosahedrally symmetric deformation modes. We find that all pathways obey a common mechanism characterized by formation of pentameric contacts early in the transition.
Department of Chemistry and Biophysics Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
Eric R
ER
May
Jun
J
Feng
Charles L
CL
Brooks
D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D002213:Capsid / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D019277:Entropy; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation