3-Dimensional View of Structure Record

As seen in the previous slides on "structure record format", the 3-D structure records do not exist as images in the back end database. Rather, they exist as text-based records that contain detailed information about the structures, such as the X, Y, Z coordinates of every atom in space. Various 3-D structure viewing programs are available to convert that textual information into 3-dimensional images.

The image below was generated by NCBI's Cn3D structure viewing program, which converted the ASN.1 formatted data from the 1AMC record (Alzheimer's Disease Amyloid Beta-Peptide (Residues 1 - 28)) into a graphic image.

While the image below is static, if viewed in the actual Cn3D program, it can be turned, enlarged, labeled, and viewed/manipulated in a number of ways. (Open the record live in MMDB then click on the image to view it in Cn3D.)

You will have an opportunity to view additional structures using Cn3D later in the module, after we discuss searching methods.