Morphologic Differentiation of Viruses beyond the Family Level

Electron microscopy has been instrumental in the identification of viruses by being able to characterize a virus to the family level. There are a few cases where morphologic or morphogenesis factors can be used to differentiate further, to the genus level. These include viruses in the families Poxviridae, Reoviridae, Retroviridae, Herpesviridae, Filoviridae, and Bunyaviridae.