Virus Shapes
Many viruses have unique shapes and sizes
Helical Virus
This type of shape has a rod-shaped body with a central cavity that encloses its nucleic acid. Some of these viruses are short, while others are very long. Furthermore, many allow for a lot of flexibility or a lot rigidity depending on how the capsomeres are arranged.
Icosahedral virus
An Icosahedral virus is a virus consisting of identical subunits that make up equilateral triangles that are, in turn, arranged in a symmetrical fashion.
Complex virus
These virus structures have a combination of Icosahedral and Helical shape and may have a complex outer wall or head-tail morphology. The head-tail morphology stucture is unique to viruses that only affect bacteria and are known as bacteriophages.