keep in mind: in atomic dimensions colours don’t make sense. we can only derive structures from electron microscopy and try to visualize them. the first image shows the five protein units of the SARS-CoV-2 omicron spike in distinct colours. the second rendering is less abstract, but, of course, not realistic either. all images can be licensed via picturealliance/dpa.

the following rendering shows all atoms of the delta variant spike (left) and of the omicron variant.