Ribbon DiagramsRibbon Diagrams

“I don’t see how you could possibly describe a protein

structure in a thousand words,” Jane Richardson says. “But you can come a lot closer with one

picture.”

http://mgl.scripps.edu/people/goodsell/mgs_art/richardson.html

This was one of Jane Richardson’s first hand-drawn and colored diagrams of a

protein.

The earlier drawings showed arrows indicating the direction of the protein ribbons. Today color and shading also

show direction.

http://www.nature.com/nsmb/journal/v7/n8/fig_tab/nsb0800_624_F1.html

In this sequence of pictures you

can see Richardson

attempting to portray the

folding process as it might

apply to four main protein structures.

http://kinemage.biochem.duke.edu/teaching/anatax/html/anatax.4c.html

Shading and color add

dimension to the diagram. Colors

can show different strands or can be used to highlight an area

of interest.

http://sciencewomen.blogspot.com/2008/05/where-is-she-now-jane-richardson.html

http://www.chem.ubc.ca/personnel/facultly/scotty/qproj.html

All these properties and

artistic additions to protein

diagrams can be useful with

something like this.

This complicated protein contains an enzymatic center, two MGD molecules, an Iron and Sulfur

cluster and more. Scientists are currently using this image and other research to explain the

mechanism of this enzyme.