From vesicles to viruses: Self-assembly by the number

COLL 370

R. Zandi1, D. Reguera1, Robijn Bruinsma2, William M. Gelbart1, and Joseph Rudnick2. (1) Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, (2) Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095
The physical principles that govern vesicle self-assembly can be applied not only to to surfactants and block co-polymers but also to amphiphilic proteins. The talk will discuss theoretical and experimental aspects of the self-assembly of proteins into spherical capsids and cylindrical tubes. The central new aspect is the appearance of Magic Numbers: because protein capsids are in the solid phase, the number of capsid proteins can be restricted to certain integral multiples of 60. Applications to the self-assembly of viruses will be presented.