Abstract
While often believed to be a passive agent that merely exploits its host’s metabolism, the influenza virus has recently been shown to actively move across glycan-coated surfaces. This form of enzymatically driven surface motility is currently not well understood and has been loosely linked to burnt-bridge Brownian ratchet mechanisms. Starting from known properties of influenza’s spike proteins, we develop a physical model that quantitatively describes the observed motility. It predicts a collectively emerging dynamics of spike proteins and surface-bound ligands that combined with the virus’ geometry give rise to a self-organized rolling propulsion. We show that in contrast to a Brownian ratchet, the rotary spike drive is not fluctuation driven but operates optimally as a macroscopic engine in the deterministic regime. The mechanism also applies to relatives of influenza and to man-made analogs like DNA monowheels and should give guidelines for their optimization.
- Received 5 October 2020
- Accepted 15 April 2021
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.218101
© 2021 American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Focus
How a Virus Rolls Itself Across a Cell Surface
Published 28 May 2021
To infect a cell, the flu virus needs to move, and a new theory suggests how it does that.
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