Nucleotides

Special representations of DNA and RNA can be displayed with the Nucleotides tool or the command nucleotides. Different levels of abstraction are available. The figure shows a ribbon backbone combined with the following sidechain (sugar/base) options:

• ladder rungs
• filled-ring atomic representations
• "lollipops" in which bases are shown as ellipsoids and sugars as tubes

Bases can also be displayed as boxes or elliptical tubes, with or without bumps to indicate orientation. The colors of the special representations will update automatically to match the corresponding atoms.

(More features...)

p53 Cancer Mutations

Mutations that inactivate the tumor suppressor p53 are found in over 50% of human cancers, and most of the cancer-associated mutations are within its DNA-binding domain. The image shows a tetramer of the p53 DNA-binding domain complexed with DNA (Protein Data Bank entry 2ac0). The tetramer subunits are shown as light blue, green, orange, and yellow ribbons, with red spheres marking several major "hot spots" of mutation. The DNA is shown in purple and blue. (More samples...)