Nature Communications (Jan 2021)

Asymmetrizing an icosahedral virus capsid by hierarchical assembly of subunits with designed asymmetry

  • Zhongchao Zhao,
  • Joseph Che-Yen Wang,
  • Mi Zhang,
  • Nicholas A. Lyktey,
  • Martin F. Jarrold,
  • Stephen C. Jacobson,
  • Adam Zlotnick

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20862-1
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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Viruses have been re-engineered for many applications but the ability to build asymmetric capsids in vitro has been lacking. Here, the authors report the design of asymmetric subunits with different growth rates leading to capsids with discrete patches and potential for distinct surface chemistries.