TOOLS TO MAKE 3D STRUCTURAL DATA MORE COMPREHENSIBLE: EMOVIE & PROTEOPEDIA

To the crystallographer, solving a three-dimensional (3D) protein or molecular structure often times feels like the ultimate success, and surely it is. However, of utmost importance is the communication of the insights revealed by the 3D structure, especially those insights that relate structure to function. In order for these insights to reach their potential for guiding future research, they must reach biologists. The problem is that 3D structures are inherently complex and thus communicating insights about 3D structures to non-structural biologists can be difficult. To aid the structural biologist in this endeavor, we have created two useful tools. The first, eMovie, is a plug- in for PyMOL that makes creating macromolecular animations much more simple. The second, Proteopedia, is a community-annotated ‘wiki’ web- resource that links descriptive text to 3D views of structures, resulting in intuitive communication of structural information.