Regensburg 2007 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 26: Poster Session II
BP 26.7: Poster
Thursday, March 29, 2007, 17:00–19:30, Poster B
Mechanical limits of viral capsids — •Mathias Bünemann and Peter Lenz — Fachbereich Physik, Philipps-Universität Marburg, D-35032 Marburg
Viral shells are extremely stable nano-containers. They are able to sustain internal pressures of ∼50atm [1] as well as point forces up to ∼1nN [2]. We have numerically studied the stability of viral capsid in terms of a single dimensionless parameter, the Föppl-von-Kármán (FvK) number γ. We are able to attribute the experimentally observed bimodal distribution of spring constants to the geometry of viral capsids. A criterion for capsid breakage is defined, which explains well the experimentally observed rupture. From our numerics, we find a γ2/3 dependence of the rupture force for spherical viruses. The influence of internal pressure on the stability of capsids is analyzed. Finally, we suggest a method for determining the spatial distribution of protein binding potentials from the spatial distribution of rupture events.
[1] D.E. Smith et al. Nature 413:748 (2001) [2] I.L.Ivanovka et al., PNAS 101(20):7600 (2003), J.P.Michel et al., PNAS 103(16):6184 (2006)