Atlas of Macromolecules

Created By:
Martz, E.

About the Image

Protein and nucleic acid molecules have many shapes in order to perform their many functions. Some are magnificent molecular machines, such as the tailpin (upper right) used by the bacterial virus T7 to puncture the E. coli cell wall. The Atlas of Macromolecules illustrates many cases, a few of which are shown in the montage above. It provides links to display more than 100 exemplary macromolecules in Protein Explorer, where you can rotate them, color them in various ways, and zoom in to examine details of interest while hiding other portions. Protein Explorer is designed to be easy for beginners to use, and provides extensive help and color keys.

Steven D. Brewer -- sbrewer@bio.umass.edu
DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST