Reshaping and Enzymatic Activity may allow Viruses to move through the Mucus

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Ziebert, Falko, Dokonon, Kenan G., Kulić, Igor M.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Ziebert, Falko
Dokonon, Kenan G.
Kulić, Igor M.
author_facet Ziebert, Falko
Dokonon, Kenan G.
Kulić, Igor M.
contents Filamentous viruses like influenza and torovirus often display systematic bends and arcs of mysterious physical origin. We propose that such viruses undergo an instability from a cylindrically symmetric to a toroidally curved state. This ``toro-elastic'' state emerges via spontaneous symmetry breaking under prestress due to short range spike protein interactions magnified by %the filament's surface topography. Once surface stresses are sufficiently large, the filament buckles and the curved state constitutes a soft mode that can potentially propagate through the filament's material frame around a mexican-hat-type potential. In the mucus of our airways, which constitutes a soft, porous 3D network, glycan chains are omnipresent and influenza's spike proteins are known to efficiently bind and cut them. We next show that such a non-equilibrium enzymatic reaction can induce spontaneous rotation of the curved state, leading to a whole body reshaping propulsion similar to -- but different from -- eukaryotic flagella and spirochetes.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2311_13203
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Reshaping and Enzymatic Activity may allow Viruses to move through the Mucus
Ziebert, Falko
Dokonon, Kenan G.
Kulić, Igor M.
Soft Condensed Matter
Biomolecules
Subcellular Processes
Filamentous viruses like influenza and torovirus often display systematic bends and arcs of mysterious physical origin. We propose that such viruses undergo an instability from a cylindrically symmetric to a toroidally curved state. This ``toro-elastic'' state emerges via spontaneous symmetry breaking under prestress due to short range spike protein interactions magnified by %the filament's surface topography. Once surface stresses are sufficiently large, the filament buckles and the curved state constitutes a soft mode that can potentially propagate through the filament's material frame around a mexican-hat-type potential. In the mucus of our airways, which constitutes a soft, porous 3D network, glycan chains are omnipresent and influenza's spike proteins are known to efficiently bind and cut them. We next show that such a non-equilibrium enzymatic reaction can induce spontaneous rotation of the curved state, leading to a whole body reshaping propulsion similar to -- but different from -- eukaryotic flagella and spirochetes.
title Reshaping and Enzymatic Activity may allow Viruses to move through the Mucus
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Biomolecules
Subcellular Processes
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.13203