Interatomic contacts in viral capsids

Murthy, MRN (2003) Interatomic contacts in viral capsids. In: Current Science, 85 (7). pp. 1071-1074.

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Abstract

Spherical viral capsids possess icosahedral symmetry and are made of a large number of densely- packed protein subunits, each consisting of thousands of atoms. Similarly, a large number of close interactions contribute to packing in crystals of virus particles. A computational method, based on the representation of the three-dimensional shape of the subunits in the icosahedral asymmetric unit as a binary map for the fast evaluation of all short interatomic contacts between subunits within the capsid as well as between particles in the crystal lattice is presented. This method might be useful in the examination of the spatial relations of three-dimensional objects. Its application to sesbania mosaic virus reveals subunit packing dominated by polar interactions, in consistence with observed properties.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Current Science
Publisher:	Indian Academy of Sciences
Additional Information:	The Copyright belongs to Indian Academy of Sciences.
Department/Centre:	Division of Biological Sciences > Molecular Biophysics Unit
Date Deposited:	21 Apr 2006
Last Modified:	19 Sep 2010 04:25
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/6374

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