3 ms·

How colorful ribbon diagrams became the face of proteins

53 points by gmays 2y ago

fuzzfactor 2y ago
Well they just looked so attractive and meaningful on the cover of technology publications like that. For one thing nobody had ever seen anything done this way, at the same time almost all the readership had no clue about the meaning, fully realized this was advanced and that almost nobody else knew anything either. And they all recognized they were the leading experts at the time. Overnight all the experts suddenly had a lot to learn.
gilleain 2y ago
I remember being very pleased when I figured out a quick way to draw a ribbon helix! Richardson's diagrams are so much nicer though. Especially the twisted parallel beta sheet (the a-b-a sandwich) on the right hand side of the three images in the middle of the article (glycogen phosphorylase). The orange on one side and yellow on the other is very nice. Oddly, I'm currently looking at some elegantly curved William Morris leaf wallpapers, and somehow they seem similar, lol.
flobosg 2y ago
Even though I’m not working in structural biology anymore, this is a topic that lies close to my heart. * Check out Jane Richardson’s The Anatomy and Taxonomy of Protein Structures (http://kinemage.biochem.duke.edu/teaching/anatax http://kinemage.biochem.duke.edu/teaching/anatax, or https://boscoh.com/longform/anatax https://boscoh.com/longform/anatax for an alternative version) to see more of her diagrams. * If you are into space-filling representations or depictions of molecules in a biological context, you can’t go wrong with David Goodsell (https://ccsb.scripps.edu/goodsell/ https://ccsb.scripps.edu/goodsell/, https://pdb101.rcsb.org/sci-art/goodsell-gallery https://pdb101.rcsb.org/sci-art/goodsell-gallery, https://pdb101.rcsb.org/motm/motm-by-date https://pdb101.rcsb.org/motm/motm-by-date) * Oh, and don’t forget about another pioneer, Irving Geis! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Geis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Geis, https://pdb101.rcsb.org/sci-art/geis-archive/gallery-by-date https://pdb101.rcsb.org/sci-art/geis-archive/gallery-by-date) * A nice review about macromolecular visualization in general: https://www.nature.com/articles/nmeth.1427 https://www.nature.com/articles/nmeth.1427

53 points by gmays 2y ago

Well they just looked so attractive and meaningful on the cover of technology publications like that. For one thing nobody had ever seen anything done this way, at the same time almost all the readership had no clue about the meaning, fully realized this was advanced and that almost nobody else knew anything either. And they all recognized they were the leading experts at the time. Overnight all the experts suddenly had a lot to learn.

gilleain 2y ago

I remember being very pleased when I figured out a quick way to draw a ribbon helix! Richardson's diagrams are so much nicer though. Especially the twisted parallel beta sheet (the a-b-a sandwich) on the right hand side of the three images in the middle of the article (glycogen phosphorylase). The orange on one side and yellow on the other is very nice. Oddly, I'm currently looking at some elegantly curved William Morris leaf wallpapers, and somehow they seem similar, lol.

flobosg 2y ago

Even though I’m not working in structural biology anymore, this is a topic that lies close to my heart. * Check out Jane Richardson’s The Anatomy and Taxonomy of Protein Structures (http://kinemage.biochem.duke.edu/teaching/anatax http://kinemage.biochem.duke.edu/teaching/anatax, or https://boscoh.com/longform/anatax https://boscoh.com/longform/anatax for an alternative version) to see more of her diagrams. * If you are into space-filling representations or depictions of molecules in a biological context, you can’t go wrong with David Goodsell (https://ccsb.scripps.edu/goodsell/ https://ccsb.scripps.edu/goodsell/, https://pdb101.rcsb.org/sci-art/goodsell-gallery https://pdb101.rcsb.org/sci-art/goodsell-gallery, https://pdb101.rcsb.org/motm/motm-by-date https://pdb101.rcsb.org/motm/motm-by-date) * Oh, and don’t forget about another pioneer, Irving Geis! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Geis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Geis, https://pdb101.rcsb.org/sci-art/geis-archive/gallery-by-date https://pdb101.rcsb.org/sci-art/geis-archive/gallery-by-date) * A nice review about macromolecular visualization in general: https://www.nature.com/articles/nmeth.1427 https://www.nature.com/articles/nmeth.1427