Fig 5. Snapshots of assembly trajectories for hexamer subunits with zero spontaneous curvature.

(A) Assembly with no cargo, for ε_HH = 2.5, and shell bending modulus parameter ε_angle = 0.1 (shell bending modulus κ_s ≈ 20k_BT). (B) Assembly with cargo, for ε_HH = 1.8, ε_SC = 7.0, and ε_angle = 0.08 (κ_s ≈ 18k_BT). The final shell has 231 and 2261 hexamers and cargo particles respectively, as well as 12 pentameric vacancies. (C) Assembly with cargo in a small system with low shell bending modulus, for ε_HH = 1.8, ε_SC = 7.0, and ε_angle = 0.015 (κ_s ≈ 3k_BT). The final shell has 71 and 361 hexamers and cargo particles respectively, 8 pentameric vacancies, and 2 double vacancies. An example of a double vacancy is visible in the front of the final frame. Animations of the trajectories in (B) and (C) are shown in S4 and S5 videos respectively.