Molecular dynamics simulations of the complete satellite tobacco mosaic virus

This work presents an all-atom molecular dynamics simulation of a complete virus, the satellite tobacco mosaic virus. Simulations with up to 1 million atoms for over 50 ns demonstrate the stability of the entire virion and of the RNA core alone, while the capsid without RNA exhibits a pronounced instability. Physical properties of the simulated virus particle including electrostatic potential, radial distribution of viral components, and patterns of correlated motion are analyzed, and the implications for the assembly and infection mechanism of the virus are discussed.