[Chimera-users] electron density in Chimera

[Elaine Meng]

On Aug 26, 2011, at 1:24 AM, Stefano Luciano Ciurli wrote:

> Hello,
> for a paper reporting a new structure, I would like to make a figure with Chimera, but I need a map that can be read. I have an mtz map that can be read with Coot, but I think I need to convert it to a format that Chimera can read. I cannot use the EDS server, because the file has not been released on the PDB.
> How do I do that?
> Stefano

Hi Stefano,
I didn't know anything about MTZ format, but found some explanation in the PHENIX mailing list that the program PHENIX can do the conversion:
<http://phenix-online.org/pipermail/phenixbb/2011-March/016881.html>

>From that message,
"it's not a simple file format conversion. In this case MTZ file is supposed to contain Fourier map coefficients, and Xplor formatted file will contain Fourier image of electron density map (typically simply called "electron density map"). So this converson also involves a FT. "

The PHENIX developers provide documentation and downloads for Linux and Mac.
<http://www.phenix-online.org/version_docs/dev-713/phenix_documentation.html>

Here's a list of the density formats that Chimera "knows":
<http://plato.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/docs/UsersGuide/filetypes.html#volume>

Other Chimera developers or users may know more -- so it's generally better to send Chimera questions to chimera-users at cgl.ucsf.edu (which I CC'd here) instead of to me directly.

Regards,
Elaine
-----
Elaine C. Meng, Ph.D.                       
UCSF Computer Graphics Lab (Chimera team) and Babbitt Lab
Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
University of California, San Francisco