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Updated: May 7, 2026

Generation and Assembly of Virus-Specific Nucleocapsids of the Respiratory Syncytial Virus

Generation and Assembly of Virus-Specific Nucleocapsids of the Respiratory Syncytial Virus

Published on: July 27, 2021

Nonicosahedral pathways for capsid expansion.

Paolo Cermelli¹, Giuliana Indelicato, Reidun Twarock

¹Dipartimento di Matematica, Università di Torino, Torino, Italy.

Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics

|October 16, 2013

Summary

Viral structural transitions are key to infection. Our coarse-grained model reveals these capsid expansions occur via a wavelike cascade of local events, clarifying viral instability mechanisms.

Area of Science:

Structural biology
Virology
Computational biophysics

Background:

Viral structural transitions are crucial for infectivity.
The precise mechanisms and pathways of viral capsid expansion remain incompletely understood.
Characterizing these processes is vital for understanding viral life cycles.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop a coarse-grained model for viral capsid expansion.
To investigate the conditions leading to viral capsid instability.
To elucidate the mechanism of structural transitions in viral capsids.

Main Methods:

Development of a coarse-grained computational model.
Simulation of viral capsid expansion pathways.
Analysis of structural transitions under varying conditions.

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Main Results:

The model captures essential features of viral capsid expansion.
Identified conditions that lead to capsid instability.
Demonstrated that icosahedral viral capsids expand via a low-symmetry cascade of local events.
Observed a wavelike propagation of expansion over the capsid surface.

Conclusions:

The proposed model provides insights into viral structural transitions.
Capsid instability is linked to specific expansion pathways.
Wavelike cascades of local expansions are a likely mechanism for viral capsid structural transitions.