Membrane vesiculation induced by proteins of the dengue virus envelope studied by molecular dynamics simulations.

Biological membranes are continuously remodeled in the cell by specific membrane-shaping machineries to form, for example, tubes and vesicles. We examine fundamental mechanisms involved in the vesiculation processes induced by a cluster of envelope (E) and membrane (M) proteins of the dengue virus (DENV) using molecular dynamics simulations and a coarse-grained model. We show that an arrangement of three E-M heterotetramers (EM) works as a bending unit and an ordered cluster of five such units generates a closed vesicle, reminiscent of the virus budding process.