This is a viral coat, all 5 million atoms of it. To be precise, it is a capsid, used to protect a virus from the defences of the cells it invades. It took three years to get the picture of the structure, by layering hundreds of x-ray diffraction images (press release). The work is published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science.

“Because many viruses use this type of capsid, understanding how it forms could lead to new approaches for antiviral therapies,” lead researcher Jane Tao said. “It could also aid researchers who are trying to create designer viruses and other tools that can deliver therapeutic genes into cells.”

The image has hit the mainstream thanks to Wired’s blog and ShortNews.com ran the story with no image. Weird.

Image: J Pan & Y J Tao / Rice University