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Chiral Quasicrystalline Order and Dodecahedral Geometry in Exceptional Families of Viruses

Source: Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 038102 (2012); http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.038102

Published 19 January 2012

PACS
PUBLICATION DATA
ISSN:
1553-9644 (online)
Publisher:
AIP is a member of CrossRef APS
O. V. Konevtsova,1,2 S. B. Rochal,1,2 and V. L. Lorman2
1Faculty of Physics, Southern Federal University, 5 Zorge str., 344090 Rostov-on-Don, Russia
2Laboratoire Charles Coulomb, UMR 5221 CNRS and Université Montpellier 2, pl. E. Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier, France
On the example of exceptional families of viruses we (i) show the existence of a completely new type of matter organization in nanoparticles, in which the regions with a chiral pentagonal quasicrystalline order of protein positions are arranged in a structure commensurate with the spherical topology and dodecahedral geometry, (ii) generalize the classical theory of quasicrystals (QCs) to explain this organization, and (iii) establish the relation between local chiral QC order and nonzero curvature of the dodecahedral capsid faces.
History: Received 23 June 2011; published 19 January 2012
Digital Object Identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.038102
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