Introduction to molecular visualization: Difference between revisions

 

 

 

Atomic representations include '''ball-and-stick, stick (wireframe), and spacefilling'''. These are illustrated in the [[Glycine|page about Glycine]]. These show positions of atoms and covalent bonds. Such representations are useful for looking at atomic detail, but become too cluttered to be useful for visualizing [[peptides]] or [[chains|protein chains]].

A useful way to see atomic details of a small part of a large macromolecular model is to center the moiety of interest, and then cut away the front and back portions of the molecule. This is called ''slabbing'' since one is, in effect, looking at a slab cut out of the larger model. Slabbing can be done using [[FirstGlance in Jmol]]: In the ''Views'' tab, use ''Center Atom'' to center the region of interest, and then click the ''Slab'' button. Further instructions will appear automatically.

Simplified representations such as '''[[Backbone_representations|backbone traces or ribbons/cartoons]]''' are very helpful in understanding structure when it comes to large molecules such as proteins, DNA, RNA and their complexes. These representations are available under the ''representations'' tab in Proteopedia's [[Scene Authoring Tools]], as well as in the ''Views'' tab in [[FirstGlance in Jmol]].

A set of standard color schemes for macromolecules, called [[DRuMS]], was released in 2000. These color schemes are offered on buttons in Proteopedia's [[Scene Authoring Tools]]. They derive in part from physical ball and stick models (called [[CPK|Corey-Pauling-Kolton or CPK]] models) that [[History of Macromolecular Visualization|pre-dated computer visualization]]. Those early colors for chemical elements were incorporated into early [[Molecular modeling and visualization software|Molecular Visualization Software]] such as [[Kinemages%2C_Mage_and_KiNG|Kinemages]], [[RasMol]], and [[Chime]]. The [[CPK]] colors for chemical elements, and the [[DRuMS]] color schemes were incorporated into the [http://jmol.sourceforge.net/jscolors/ color schemes] built into [[Jmol]], the visualization engine used in Proteopedia.