HERPES VIRUS. HERPES VIRUS This transmission electron micrograph from a pelleted specimen depicts three icosahedral-shaped herpes virus virions. The staining technique used to process this specimen revealed the following findings: virions with a dark center, where the stain has penetrated, indicates a capsid with no DNA, while a virion with a light center, where there is no stain penetration, indicates a nucleocapsid, i.e., capsid plus its DNA core.