RasMol

BIOC/MCB 568 -- Fall 2009
John W. Little--University of Arizona

BIOC/MCB568 Home Page

 

 

It is very useful to be able to visualize 3D structures of macromolecules such as DNA, RNA and proteins. Many such structures are available (link below). If you have this skill, it lets you read structure papers in a much more proactive way; you are not limited to the few views that the authors present, but can look at different angles and study features mentioned in the paper but not illustrated with a figure. So, when a structure paper on your favorite protein appears, you can get it from the RCSB and study it carefully. It's also easier to see the features when rotating the molecule, which gives a much stronger 3D sense to the view.

There are numerous graphics programs available for this purpose. One that is rather old but relatively easy to use is RasMol. Since that's the one I use in my own work, I will use it in class. Here is material that I developed or adapted from that provided by colleagues that will help you learn and use RasMol, should you choose this particular program. Links for using RasMol are in the upper part of the table. It can also be used to write "scripts", which allow the author to present a series of views to the viewer. In previous years, the class developed RasMol scripts. Links to materials that were used to write scripts are given at the bottom of the table.

 

RasMol -- introduction	Tutorial for learning RasMol	PDB files for 568
Files for running scripts		Configuring your Browser
Tutorial--writing RasMol scripts	Link to RCSB (source of PDB files)	Interpreting PDB files and relating them to papers