paper

Icosahedral packing of RNA viral genomes

arXiv:cond-mat/0301305

Abstract

Recent studies reveal that certain viruses package a portion of their genome in a manner that mirrors the icosahedral symmetry of the protein container, or capsid. Graph theoretical constraints forbid exact realization of icosahedral symmetry. This paper proposes a model for the determination of quasi-icosahedral genome structures and discusses the connection between genomic structure and viral assembly kinetics.

4 pages revtex, 4 eps figures