UCSF ChimeraX

UCSF ChimeraX (or simply ChimeraX) is the next-generation molecular visualization program from the Resource for Biocomputing, Visualization, and Informatics (RBVI), following UCSF Chimera. ChimeraX can be downloaded free of charge for academic, government, nonprofit, and personal use. Commercial users, please see ChimeraX commercial licensing.

ChimeraX is developed with support from National Institutes of Health R01-GM129325.

ChimeraX on Bluesky: @chimerax.ucsf.edu

Feature Highlight

Per-Model Clipping

Front/back (rotatable) clipping can be applied selectively to some models but not others. This is most often used to slice a molecular surface but not the corresponding atomic structure.

For example, the protein in PDB entry 1g74 has an oleic acid residue OLA in an interior pocket. The script in pmc.cxc shows the protein surface, activates front clipping for all models, and then turns it off for just the atomic model, as shown in the figure. The clipping plane can be translated and rotated interactively with the mouse .

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Example Image

Potassium Channel-Calmodulin Complex

KCNQ1 is the pore-forming subunit of a cardiac potassium channel. It binds to calmodulin, and mutations in either of these proteins can cause congenital long QT syndrome, a dangerous propensity for irregular heartbeats. In the image, a structure of the KCNQ1/calmodulin complex (PDB 5vms) has been assembled into the native tetrameric form with the sym command. The view is from the cytoplasmic side, with KCNQ1 shown as surfaces, calmodulin as cartoons, and calcium ions as balls. A pastel palette from ColorBrewer has been used to color the surfaces, darkened with color modify for the cartoons, and “rotated” 45° in hue for the ions. See the command file colormod.cxc.

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