Details of charge distribution in stable viral capsid

Elvira Tarasova, Vladimir Farafonov, Makoto Taiji, Dmitry Nerukh

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    We present the results of Molecular Dynamics simulations of a viral capsid with the aim to analyse ion distribution on the capsid's surface that defines its stability. Two systems were modelled, a stable capsid with neutralising number of ions and an unstable capsid with low number of ions. For the ion distribution analysis the capsid's structure was identical and fixed in both simulations. It was then released for the stability analysis. The ion distribution demonstrated two types of the local regions on the inner surface of the capsid's wall: highly occupied with chloride ions in both systems despite a largely uniform electrostatic potential everywhere on the surface, and the regions that loose almost all chloride ions in the unstable capsid. The latter regions are located close to the cracks that are formed when the capsid is destabilised and thus could initiate the collapse of the capsid.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)585-591
    JournalJournal of Molecular Liquids
    Volume265
    Early online date6 Jun 2018
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2018

    Bibliographical note

    © 2018, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

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