The F1-ATPase as three cylinder three-cycle engine
These gifs are based on the structure of the F1 ATPase as determined by Abrahams et al., 1996. Using SPDBV this structure of the F1 ATPase was triplicated, rotated and aligned so that the three catalytic subunits in their different phases of the catalytic cycle aligned with one another. The resulting structures were colored and displayed using POVRAY.
The ATP/ADP molecules are in red, the gamma subunit is blue, the non-catalytic subunits are yellow, turquoise and green, and the catalytic subunits are gray, brown and purple.
The resulting gifs nicely demonstrate the “rotation” of the gamma subunit, and the structural changes that the F-ATPase undergoes during its catalytic cycle (At least, if your graphics card is cooperating – I also noticed that Netscape is slower and less smooth than Internet Explorer in going through the frames). Drop me a note, if you would like to have a copy of the overlaid structures in pdb-format.
Wire representation of backbone
Space filling model
