What is the shape and structure of HIV?

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a 20-sided, stereosymmetric, spherical particle with a glycoprotein spine-like structure on its surface, approximately 100-120 nm in diameter. typical HIV-1 particles consist of two parts: the core and the envelope. The viral outer membrane is a lipoprotein envelope, derived from host cells, embedded with the viral glycoproteins gp120 and gp41. gp120 is the viral surface antigen, an outer membrane glycoprotein. gp41 is a transmembrane glycoprotein, and gp120 binds to gp41 by non-covalent interaction. The core of the virus is conical, and protein p24 forms a semi-conical capsid (capsid) containing the viral RNA genome, core structural proteins and enzymes necessary for viral replication (reverse transcriptase, integrase, protease), etc. The RNA of HIV is two identical positive strands of RNA. the length of the HIV-1 genome is 9.2 KB, and the genes are highly variable. Protein p17 forms the spherical matrix (Matrix) between the viral outer membrane and the viral core.