Multivalent ion effects on electrostatic stability of virus-like nano-shells

Abstract

Electrostatic properties and stability of charged virus-like nano-shells are examined in ionic solutions with monovalent and multivalent ions. A theoretical model based on a thin charged spherical shell and multivalent ions within the "dressed multivalent ion" approximation, yielding their distribution across the shell and the corresponding electrostatic (osmotic) pressure acting on the shell, is compared with extensive implicit Monte-Carlo simulations. It is found to be accurate for positive or low negative surface charge densities of the shell and for sufficiently high (low) monovalent (multivalent) salt concentrations. Phase diagrams involving electrostatic pressure exhibit positive and negative values, corresponding to an outward and an inward facing force on the shell, respectively. This provides an explanation for the high sensitivity of viral shell stability and self-assembly of viral capsid shells on the ionic environment.

8 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Statics and Dynamics of Strongly Charged Soft Matter
• Role of electrostatic interactions in the assembly of empty spherical viral capsids
• Buckling transition in icosahedral shells subjected to volume conservation constraint and pressure: relations to virus maturation
• How simple can a model of an empty viral capsid be? Charge distributions in viral capsids
• Attraction between Neutral Dielectrics Mediated by Multivalent Ions in an Asymmetric Ionic Fluid

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• Electrostatic Interactions and Electro-osmotic Properties of Semipermeable Surfaces
• Ion-mediated interactions between net-neutral slabs: Weak and strong disorder effects
• Role of metallic core for the stability of virus-like particles in strongly coupled electrostatics
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