[Chimera-users] How to explore two protein structures on the same screen?

[Elaine Meng]

Hi Jing,
For an overview, you might want to try the “getting started” tutorial -- moving separately is mentioned in “models and model status,” and specifying individual residues is covered in “selection with the mouse” and “command/target”: 
<http://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/Outreach/Tutorials/GettingStarted.html>

However, I’ll try to list the ways briefly in this message.

There are many ways to move structures separately:
(1) “freezing” (deactivating) some structure(s) and moving the others with the mouse
<http://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimera/docs/UsersGuide/mouse.html#activedef>
(2) superimposing similar structures
<http://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimera/docs/UsersGuide/superposition.html>
(3) using movement commands (move, turn, etc.) with “models” keyword to move only specific models
<http://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimera/docs/UsersGuide/midas/move.html>

There are many ways to act on individual residues:
(1) selecting them with Ctrl-click on the structure
<http://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimera/docs/UsersGuide/selection.html#pickselect>
(2) selecting them in the sequence window (menu: Favorites… Sequence)
<http://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimera/docs/ContributedSoftware/multalignviewer/framemav.html>
(3) just specifying the residue(s) directly in a command, for example:

color red #0:325.A
… to color residue 325 in chain A of model 0
select #1:45.A,55.B
… to select residues 45 in chain A and 55 in chain B of model 1
<http://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimera/docs/UsersGuide/midas/atom_spec.html#hierarchy>

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

On Jul 28, 2015, at 1:29 AM, Jing Tang <jing.tang at helsinki.fi> wrote:

> Hi,
> I opened two protein structures, say 2JIT and 4WA9 and they were partially overlapped on the screen. How to move one protein so that they can be separated more? I can only move the two proteins as a whole but not individually.
> Further, I would like to highlight one residue for a particular protein and I could not find a way to first select a protein and then a residue. 
> Thanks,
> Jing