A stochastic model of icosahedral capsid growth

Abstract

A model of growth of icosahedral capsids is proposed. It is similar to the stochastic model of fullerene growth, but takes into account variations in the composition of pentamers and hexamers that are responsible for the final capsid size. We show that the observed high yield of capsid production implies a high level of self-organization of the elementary building blocks. © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group Ltd.