Viral Phrenology
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 12, 2025

Viral Tracing of Genetically Defined Neural Circuitry
Published on: October 17, 2012
David P Wilson1, Danielle A Roof1
1Department of Physics, Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, MI 49006, USA.
Abstract:
We introduce Viral Phrenology, a new scheme for understanding the genomic composition of spherical viruses based on the locations of their structural protrusions. We used icosahedral point arrays to classify 135 distinct viral capsids collected from over 600 capsids available in the VIPERdb. Using gauge points of point arrays, we found 149 unique structural protrusions. We then show how to use the locations of these protrusions to determine the genetic composition of the virus. We then show that ssDNA, dsDNA, dsRNA and ssRNA viruses use different arrangements for distributing their protrusions. We also found that Triangulation number is also partially dependent on the structural protrusions. This analysis begins to tie together Baltimore Classification and Triangulation number using point arrays.
Related Concept Videos
Retroviruses
Viral Recombination
Viral Structure
Subviral Agents
Viral Mutations
Size and Structure of Viral Genomes

