Why Are Viral Capsids Icosahedral?
a day ago
- #structural-biology
- #evolution
- #virology
- Viral capsids are predominantly icosahedral due to genetic economy and geometric efficiency.
- The icosahedral shape allows viruses to maximize volume with minimal genetic material.
- Convergent evolution explains why unrelated viruses independently evolved icosahedral capsids.
- The Caspar-Klug theory describes viral capsid assembly using principles of quasi-equivalence and icosahedral symmetry.
- Exceptions to the Caspar-Klug theory led to the development of viral tiling theory.
- Icosahedral symmetry is found in other biological structures like bacterial microcompartments and engineered nanomaterials.
- Virus-like particles (VLPs) leverage icosahedral symmetry for vaccine and drug delivery applications.