text: In viruses and bacteriophages, the DNA or RNA is surrounded by a protein capsid, sometimes further enveloped by a lipid membrane. Double-stranded DNA is stored inside the capsid in the form of a spool, which can have different types of coiling leading to different types of liquid-crystalline packing. This packing can change from hexagonal to cholesteric to isotropic at different stages of the phage functioning. Although the double helices are always locally aligned, the DNA inside viruses does not represent real liquid crystals, because it lacks fluidity. On the other hand,  DNA condensed in vitro, e.g., with the help of polyamines also present in viruses, is both locally ordered and fluid.