Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Luque A
PROVIDER: S-EPMC2851771 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Mar
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20100308 12
Many viruses protect their genetic material by a closed elongated protein shell. Unlike spherical viruses, the structure of these prolates is not yet well understood, and only a few of them have been fully characterized. We present the results of a simple phenomenological model, which describes the remarkable structures of prolate or bacilliform viral shells. Surprisingly, we find that the special well-defined geometry of these elongated viruses arises just as a consequence of free-energy minimi ...[more]