Viral Transformers

Abstract

Immature viruses are designed to be stable such that they can endure the harsh extracellular environment. Once entered the human body, the stability of the immature virus obstructs its self-dissociation for the delivery of its genome materials. Therefore, maturation is required to convert the immature virus into infectious mature virus.The maturation process often involves structural transitions. The maturation transformation of an insect-infecting virus, namely Nudaurelia capensis omega virus, is depicted by overlaying an all-atom model of the virus capsid and several cryo-electron microscopy density maps at different maturation stages. Using computational modeling and molecular dynamics simulations, the maturation pathway can be studied in unprecedented atomic detail.