Nanoindentation of viral capsids provides an efficient tool in order to probe their elastic properties. We investigate in the present work the various sources of stiffness heterogeneity as observed in Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) experiments. By combining experimental results with both numerical and analytical modeling, we first show that for small viruses a position-dependent stiffness is observed. This effect is strong and has not been properly taken into account previously. Moreover, we show that a geometrical model is able to reproduce this effect quantitatively. Our work suggests alternative ways of measuring stiffness heterogeneities on small viral capsids. This is illustrated on two different viral capsids: Adeno Associated Virus serotype 8 (AAV8) and Hepatitis B Virus (HBV with T=4). We discuss our results in the light of continuous elasticity modeling.

We propose in this work a quantitative mechanism for the phenomenon of molecular self-assembly on a curved substrate, which leads to the spontaneous inclusion of topological defects in the growing bidimensional crystal, by using standard thin shell elasticity.