# Impact of a non-uniform charge distribution on virus assembly

## TL;DR

This paper models how non-uniform charge distributions on virus shells influence genome packaging, revealing effects on optimal genome length and explaining overcharging phenomena observed experimentally.

## Contribution

It introduces a mean-field model accounting for non-uniform charge distributions, advancing understanding of electrostatic effects in virus assembly.

## Key findings

- Non-uniform charge distribution significantly impacts optimal genome length.
- Model explains experimentally observed overcharging of viruses.
- Charge heterogeneity influences virus assembly stability.

## Abstract

Many spherical viruses encapsulate their genome in protein shells with icosahedral symmetry. This process is spontaneous and driven by electrostatic interactions between positive domains on the virus coat proteins and the negative genome. We model the effect of the icosahedral charge distribution from the protein shell instead of uniform using a mean-field theory. We find that the non-uniform charge distribution strongly affects the optimal genome length, and that it can explain the experimentally observed phenomenon of overcharging of virus and virus-like particles.