Figure 2.

Three different systems that display a shell with the exact same symmetry. (Solid triangle) Background of each subfigure highlights the triangular subunits. Shell (a) is constructed of trimers similar to the viral shells, shell (b) is a soccer ball clathrin coat constructed from triskelion molecules, and shell (c) is built of small spheres connected through Lennard-Jones potential with a convexity constraint. As seen in the background, all the subunits display a local hexagonal symmetry if packed onto a flat surface. To see this figure in color, go online.