Parvez MK. Geometric architecture of viruses. World J Virol 2020; 9(2): 5-18 [PMID: 32923381 DOI: 10.5501/wjv.v9.i2.5]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Mohammad Khalid Parvez, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2457, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia. khalid_parvez@yahoo.com
Research Domain of This Article
Virology
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Virol. Aug 25, 2020; 9(2): 5-18 Published online Aug 25, 2020. doi: 10.5501/wjv.v9.i2.5
Geometric architecture of viruses
Mohammad Khalid Parvez
Mohammad Khalid Parvez, Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 22451, Saudi Arabia
Author contributions: Parvez MK conceptualized, planned and wrote the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mohammad Khalid Parvez, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2457, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia. khalid_parvez@yahoo.com
Received: April 7, 2020 Peer-review started: May 9, 2020 First decision: June 20, 2020 Revised: July 2, 2020 Accepted: July 19, 2020 Article in press: July 19, 2020 Published online: August 25, 2020
Core Tip
Core tip: A detailed structural knowledge of a pathogenic virus is essential for understanding the mechanisms of capsid assembly, antigenicity, cell receptor interaction, and designing therapeutic strategies. X-ray crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy and molecular simulations have elucidated atomic-level structures of several viruses. Notably, a recently determined crystal structure of SARS-CoV-2 capsid has revealed its close similarity to that of SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV. Capsid symmetry greatly contributes to virion stability and balance between genome. Enveloped icosahedral viruses are very common in animals, and rare in plants. Several of self-assembled, stable and non-infectious virus-like particles have been widely exploited as vaccine candidates and therapeutic molecules delivery vehicles.
