McPherson Alexander
University of Califonia Irvine, Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Irvine, CA 92697-3900, USA.
Bioessays. 2005 Apr;27(4):447-58. doi: 10.1002/bies.20196.
Self-assembly processes of crystallization, micelle formation and virus assembly, by their creation of geometric order from disordered components, represent first-order phase transitions that arise through the formation of partially ordered intermediates. The self-assembly of protein subunits into the geometric shells of polyhedral viruses may proceed through formation of reverse micelles, and be driven by condensation of encapsidated nucleic acid complexed with the amino terminal polypeptides of the coat proteins. Restructuring of subunits on the fluid, micellar surface, analogous to processes on the surfaces of growing crystals, then leads to symmetrical, icosahedral capsids. Such a pathway for viral assembly is attractive because it utilizes only physical properties inherent to the system, and it shares many characteristics that we know to be associated with those two other preeminent examples of self-assembly, micelles and crystals.
结晶、胶束形成和病毒组装的自组装过程，通过从无序组分创造几何秩序，代表了通过形成部分有序中间体而产生的一级相变。蛋白质亚基自组装成多面体病毒的几何外壳可能通过反向胶束的形成进行，并由与衣壳蛋白氨基末端多肽复合的衣壳化核酸的凝聚驱动。亚基在流体胶束表面的重组，类似于生长晶体表面的过程，然后导致对称的二十面体衣壳。这种病毒组装途径很有吸引力，因为它只利用系统固有的物理性质，并且它具有许多我们已知与自组装的其他两个杰出例子——胶束和晶体相关的特征。
