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Simplifying structure analysis projects with customizable chime‐based templates *
Author(s) -
Thompson Scott E.,
Sears Duane W.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
biochemistry and molecular biology education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.34
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1539-3429
pISSN - 1470-8175
DOI - 10.1002/bmb.2005.49403305344
Subject(s) - template , computer science , tutor , plug in , world wide web , multimedia , programming language
Structure/function relationships are fundamental to understanding the properties of biological molecules, and thus it is imperative that biochemistry students learn how to analyze such relationships. Here we describe Chime‐based web page templates and tutorials designed to help students develop their own strategies for exploring macromolecular three‐dimensional structures like those on our course website. The templates can easily be customized for any structure of interest, and some templates include a Command Entry Line and a Message Recall Box for more refined macromolecular exploration using RasMol/Chime image modification commands. The tutorials present students with an integrated overview of the image modification capabilities of the Chime plug‐in and its underlying RasMol‐based command structure as accessed through the Command Entry Line. The tutorial also illustrates how RasMol/Chime command syntax addresses specific formatted structural information in a standard Protein Data Bank file. Judging by the high quality of structure‐based presentations given by students who have used these templates and tutorials, it appears that these resources can help students learn to analyze complex macromolecular structures while also providing them with convenient tools for creating scientifically meaningful and visually effective molecular images to share with others. (The templates, tutorials, and our course website can be viewed at the following URLs, respectively: tutor.lscf.ucsb.edu/instdev/sears/biochemistry/presentations/demos‐downloads.htm , tutor.lscf.ucsb.edu/instdev/sears/biochemistry/tutorials/pdbtutorial/frontwindow.html , and tutor.lscf.ucsb.edu/instdev/sears/biochemistry/ .)