BPCPPDYSOE21 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 4: Cell Mechanics II

BP 4.4: Vortrag

Montag, 22. März 2021, 12:00–12:20, BPa

Virus motility - Ifluenza's spike protein dynamics as a self-organized motor — •Falko Ziebert¹ and Igor Kulic^2,3 — ¹Institute for Theoretical Physics, Heidelberg University, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany — ²Institut Charles Sadron UPR22-CNRS, F-67034 Strasbourg, France — ³Institute Theory of Polymers, Leibniz-Institute of Polymer Research, D-01069 Dresden, Germany

Directed self-sustained motion is a hallmark of life employed by both eukaryotic cells and bacteria. While viruses are commonly believed to be just passive agents, influenza has recently been shown to actively move across glycan-coated surfaces, mimicking those of to be infected host cells. Starting from known properties of influenza's spike proteins, we develop a physical model. It predicts a collectively emerging dynamics of spike proteins and surface bound ligands that combined with the virus' geometry give rise to self-organized rolling propulsion. We show that in contrast to most Brownian ratchets, the rotary spike drive is not fluctuation driven but operates optimally as a macroscopic engine in the deterministic regime. The mechanism also applies to man-made analogues like DNA-monowheels and should give guidelines for their optimization.