Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States of America.
J Phys Condens Matter. 2018 May 23;30(20):204004. doi: 10.1088/1361-648X/aab99a. Epub 2018 Mar 26.
The capsids of certain Archaea-infecting viruses undergo large shape changes, while maintaining their integrity against rupture by osmotic pressure. We propose that these capsids are in a smectic liquid crystalline state, with the capsid proteins assembling along spirals. We show that smectic capsids are intrinsically stabilized against the formation of localized bulges with non-zero Gauss curvature while still allowing for large-scale cooperative shape transformation that involves global changes in the Gauss curvature.
某些感染古菌的病毒的衣壳会发生较大的形状变化，同时保持其完整性以防止渗透压破裂。我们提出这些衣壳处于向列液晶态，衣壳蛋白沿螺旋组装。我们表明，向列液晶衣壳本质上可以稳定地抵抗形成具有非零高斯曲率的局部隆起，同时仍然允许涉及高斯曲率全局变化的大规模协作形状转变。
