Investigation of Mechanical Strength of the Nanoshell of Bacteriophage Phi-29

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In this research, by using the analytical solution (method 1, method 2) and finite element method that include three approaches were proposed to find the stress in the nanoshell when phi-29 packages the dsDNA. Method 1, is assumed that the capsid is simplified as a hollow sphere loaded by a inner pressure of 6 MPa and its outer pressure is 0 MPa . From analytical solution the stress in the capsid is 47.6 MPa. When it comes to method 2, the capsid is assumed to be a cylindrical vessel with ellipsoidal heads and loaded by an inner pressure, 6MPa; The stress in the capsid calculated from method 2 is 83.4 MPa. To method 3, the analysis software is applied to simulate the true-structure-like phi-29 capsid model. From the simulation result, the stress in the capsid shell is 116.6 MPa. The results of the numerical simulation show the best agreement to the experimental data [3] among these three methods. The method proposed here would be used to study the mechanical behavior in DNA packaging and release from viral capsids in the future.

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Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 1, Technical Proceedings of the 2007 NSTI Nanotechnology Conference and Trade Show, Volume 1
Published: May 20, 2007
Pages: 497 - 500
Industry sector: Advanced Materials & Manufacturing
Topic: Informatics, Modeling & Simulation
ISBN: 1-4200-6182-8