Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 16, 2026

High-Pressure NMR Experiments for Detecting Protein Low-Lying Conformational States

High-Pressure NMR Experiments for Detecting Protein Low-Lying Conformational States

Published on: June 29, 2021

Unlocking internal prestress from protein nanoshells.

W S Klug¹, W H Roos, G J L Wuite

¹Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and California NanoSystems Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.

Physical Review Letters

|December 11, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

The mechanics of mitotic chromosomes.

Quarterly reviews of biophysics·2021

Same author

Cancer-ID: Toward Identification of Cancer by Tumor-Derived Extracellular Vesicles in Blood.

Frontiers in oncology·2020

Same author

Maturation of adenovirus primes the protein nano-shell for successful endosomal escape.

Nanoscale·2019

Same author

A viscoactive constitutive modeling framework with variational updates for the myocardium.

Computer methods in applied mechanics and engineering·2017

Same author

How to switch the motor on: RNA polymerase initiation steps at the single-molecule level.

Protein science : a publication of the Protein Society·2017

Same author

Recent Advances in Biological Single-Molecule Applications of Optical Tweezers and Fluorescence Microscopy.

Methods in enzymology·2017

Viral capsids possess internal compressive prestress due to protein assembly geometry. Experiments on herpes simplex virus capsids confirm this internal stress, demonstrating its role in viral structure.

Area of Science:

Structural biology
Biophysics
Virology

Background:

Icosahedral virus capsids are protein shells with specific geometric arrangements.
Elasticity theory suggests these structures may contain internal compressive prestress.
This prestress could explain relationships between capsid size and shape.

Purpose of the Study:

To experimentally investigate residual prestress in macromolecular assemblies.
To test the hypothesis that geometric incompatibility of subunits causes prestress.
To directly measure the mechanical response of virus capsids to subunit removal.

Main Methods:

Utilized a combination of experimental techniques and elasticity theory.
Focused on "whiffle ball" capsids of herpes simplex virus.

More Related Videos

Scalable Nanohelices for Predictive Studies and Enhanced 3D Visualization

Scalable Nanohelices for Predictive Studies and Enhanced 3D Visualization

Published on: November 12, 2014

DNA Tension Probes to Map the Transient Piconewton Receptor Forces by Immune Cells

DNA Tension Probes to Map the Transient Piconewton Receptor Forces by Immune Cells

Published on: March 20, 2021

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 16, 2026

High-Pressure NMR Experiments for Detecting Protein Low-Lying Conformational States

High-Pressure NMR Experiments for Detecting Protein Low-Lying Conformational States

Published on: June 29, 2021

Scalable Nanohelices for Predictive Studies and Enhanced 3D Visualization

Scalable Nanohelices for Predictive Studies and Enhanced 3D Visualization

Published on: November 12, 2014

DNA Tension Probes to Map the Transient Piconewton Receptor Forces by Immune Cells

DNA Tension Probes to Map the Transient Piconewton Receptor Forces by Immune Cells

Published on: March 20, 2021

Performed controlled removal of protein pentamers from icosahedral vertices.

Main Results:

Demonstrated the signature of internal prestress in wild-type capsids.
Provided the first direct experimental evidence for prestress in viral capsids.
Quantified the mechanical response following pentamer removal.

Conclusions:

Confirms the presence of internal compressive prestress in icosahedral viral capsids.
Supports the role of geometric incompatibility in generating this prestress during assembly.
Establishes a foundation for understanding the mechanics of viral structures.