DSMM: a Database of Simulated Molecular Motions

We describe a Database of Simulated Molecular Motions (DSMM). This database is designed to serve as a single searchable site for locating movies and animations from simulations of biomolecules. DSMM is accessible via a webserver at: http://projects.villa-bosch.de/mcm/database/dsmm.     

Workshop on molecular animation

From February 25 to 26, 2010, in San Francisco, the Resource for Biocomputing, Visualization, and Informatics (RBVI) and the National Center for Macromolecular Imaging (NCMI) hosted a molecular animation workshop for 21 structural biologists, molecular animators, and creators of molecular visualization software. Molecular animation aims to visualize scientific understanding of biomolecular processes and structures. The primary goal of the workshop was to identify the necessary tools for producing high-quality molecular animations, understanding complex molecular and cellular structures, creating publication supplementary materials and conference presentations, and teaching science to students and the public. Another use of molecular animation emerged in the workshop: helping to focus scientific inquiry about the motions of molecules and enhancing informal communication within and between laboratories.     

大学全英文教授<动物学>探索

为配合教学改革的需要,首次在本科生中试行《动物学》全英文教学。针对一年级学生的英语水平和特点,结合《动物学》课程的特性,在课堂教学中合理运用多媒体技术,调动学生学习积极性,激发学生兴趣,因而提高了学习效率。     

Deep learning techniques and mathematical modeling allow 3D analysis of mitotic spindle dynamics

Time-lapse microscopy movies have transformed the study of subcellular dynamics. However, manual analysis of movies can introduce bias and variability, obscuring important insights. While automation can overcome such limitations, spatial and temporal discontinuities in time-lapse movies render methods such as 3D object segmentation and tracking difficult. Here, we present SpinX, a framework for reconstructing gaps between successive image frames by combining deep learning and mathematical object modeling. By incorporating expert feedback through selective annotations, SpinX identifies subcellular structures, despite confounding neighbor-cell information, non-uniform illumination, and variable fluorophore marker intensities. The automation and continuity introduced here allows the precise 3D tracking and analysis of spindle movements with respect to the cell cortex for the first time. We demonstrate the utility of SpinX using distinct spindle markers, cell lines, microscopes, and drug treatments. In summary, SpinX provides an exciting opportunity to study spindle dynamics in a sophisticated way, creating a framework for step changes in studies using time-lapse microscopy.     

SketchBio: a scientist’s 3D interface for molecular modeling and animation

Background

Because of the difficulties involved in learning and using 3D modeling and rendering software, many scientists hire programmers or animators to create models and animations. This both slows the discovery process and provides opportunities for miscommunication. Working with multiple collaborators, a tool was developed (based on a set of design goals) to enable them to directly construct models and animations.

Results

SketchBio is presented, a tool that incorporates state-of-the-art bimanual interaction and drop shadows to enable rapid construction of molecular structures and animations. It includes three novel features: crystal-by-example, pose-mode physics, and spring-based layout that accelerate operations common in the formation of molecular models. Design decisions and their consequences are presented, including cases where iterative design was required to produce effective approaches.

Conclusions

The design decisions, novel features, and inclusion of state-of-the-art techniques enabled SketchBio to meet all of its design goals. These features and decisions can be incorporated into existing and new tools to improve their effectiveness.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2105-15-334) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Studying transcriptional interactions in single cells at sufficient resolution

Our ability to dissect and understand the principles of gene regulatory circuits is partly limited by the resolution of our experimental assays. In this brief review, we discuss aspects of gene expression in microbial organisms apparent only when increasing the experimental resolution from populations to single cells and sub-cellular structures, from snap-shots to high-speed time-lapse movies and from molecular ensembles to single molecules.     

干种子高质量总RNA的快速提取方法

高效快速提取高质量的种子RNA是种子分子生物学研究的基础。现有的提取方法难以高效快速地从种子中得到高质量的总RNA。本试验有机地将改进SDS法和异硫氰酸胍法相结合,采用改进的酸性SDS提取液、不溶性PVPP(聚乙烯聚吡咯烷酮)阻止酚类氧化、KAc去除多糖、异丙醇沉淀RNA,可以高效地从0.01～0.1g水稻、大豆、蚕豆、芸豆、花生等干种子中提取到高质量总RNA。此法提取的总RNA,能够满足分子生物学研究的要求,可以进行反转录和RT-PCR反应,用于基因表达研究,并为从具相似成分的其他物种干种子提取总RNA提供参考方法。     

Eadfrith: A molecular rendering program for Silicon Graphics workstations

Eadfrith was written to provide the rapid display of molecules, so that they can be interactively rotated, translated, and scaled, and then rendered in a manner suitable for photography or other high-quality output methods. The program provides support for the display of transparency, electrostatic effects, and the normal vibrational modes of molecules. The compiled version for Silicon Graphics machines is freely available over the World-Wide Web. Eadfrith reads the structures from files in MacroModel format. The aim of the program is to provide a way to display molecular structures quickly and to produce high-quality pictures. Consequently, image-saving routines are not included, and standard utilities must be used in conjunction with Eadfrith to save the images to disk.     

Copper (II) acetate improves the quality of pear (Pyrus) DNA during extraction

Isolation of high-quality DNA from Pyrus is particularly difficult because of high endogenous levels of polysaccharides, phenolics, and other organic constituents that interfere with DNA isolation and purification. Presence of phenolic compounds caused browning of tissue and supernatant during the extraction process, despite supplementation with PVP, as suggested by standard methods. By modifying the CTAB extraction procedure of Aldrich and Cullis (1993) by including copper (II) acetate treatment, we obtained high-quality DNA. Copper (II) acetate enabled fixation and removal of tannins. The DNA yield from this procedure is high (up to 1.25 μg of DNA/mg of leaf tissue). This DNA is completely digestible with restriction endonucleases and suitable for generation of molecular markers, such as random-amplified polymorphic DNA and amplified fragment length polymorphism analyses, indicating freedom from common contaminating polyphenolic compounds.     

Computer animations stimulate contagious yawning in chimpanzees

People empathize with fictional displays of behaviour, including those of cartoons and computer animations, even though the stimuli are obviously artificial. However, the extent to which other animals also may respond empathetically to animations has yet to be determined. Animations provide a potentially useful tool for exploring non-human behaviour, cognition and empathy because computer-generated stimuli offer complete control over variables and the ability to program stimuli that could not be captured on video. Establishing computer animations as a viable tool requires that non-human subjects identify with and respond to animations in a way similar to the way they do to images of actual conspecifics. Contagious yawning has been linked to empathy and poses a good test of involuntary identification and motor mimicry. We presented 24 chimpanzees with three-dimensional computer-animated chimpanzees yawning or displaying control mouth movements. The apes yawned significantly more in response to the yawn animations than to the controls, implying identification with the animations. These results support the phenomenon of contagious yawning in chimpanzees and suggest an empathic response to animations. Understanding how chimpanzees connect with animations, to both empathize and imitate, may help us to understand how humans do the same.     

Reconstructing visual experiences from brain activity evoked by natural movies

Quantitative modeling of human brain activity can provide crucial insights about cortical representations [1, 2] and can form the basis for brain decoding devices [3-5]. Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have modeled brain activity elicited by static visual patterns and have reconstructed these patterns from brain activity [6-8]. However, blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals measured via fMRI are very slow [9], so it has been difficult to model brain activity elicited by dynamic stimuli such as natural movies. Here we present a new motion-energy [10, 11] encoding model that largely overcomes this limitation. The model describes fast visual information and slow hemodynamics by separate components. We recorded BOLD signals in occipitotemporal visual cortex of human subjects who watched natural movies and fit the model separately to individual voxels. Visualization of the fit models reveals how early visual areas represent the information in movies. To demonstrate the power of our approach, we also constructed a Bayesian decoder [8] by combining estimated encoding models with a sampled natural movie prior. The decoder provides remarkable reconstructions of the viewed movies. These results demonstrate that dynamic brain activity measured under naturalistic conditions can be decoded using current fMRI technology.     

Research and implementation of animations evaluation system

A scientific and systematical evaluation of animations will be able to reflect the integrated strength of animations. Based on the popularity of animations in the market and the quality of animations, and following the principles of index selection, we propose an animations evaluation system (AES) by using multiple social research methods. We establish and analyze a mathematical model based on analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation. We then treat the missing data of the market repercussion index and the professional evaluation index by using hot deck imputation and mean imputation. Finally, with sample test to the data extracted from Chinese market, experimental results show that AES and the mathematical model is feasible and the missing data treatment is reasonable. Furthermore, we prove that social values and artistic values of animations, which are both part and parcel of the integrated strength of animations, can be objectively reflected by AES.     

Fabrication of carbon films with ∼500 nm holes for cryo-EM with a direct detector device

Single particle electron cryomicroscopy (cryo-EM) is often performed using EM grids coated with a perforated or holey layer of amorphous carbon. Regular arrays of holes enable efficient cryo-EM data collection and several methods for the production of micropatterned holey-carbon film coated grids have been described. However, a new generation of direct detector device (DDD) electron microscope cameras can benefit from hole diameters that are smaller than currently available. Here we extend a previously proposed method involving soft lithography with a poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) stamp for the production of holey-carbon film coated EM grids. By incorporating electron-beam (e-beam) lithography and modifying the procedure, we are able to produce low-cost high-quality holey-carbon film coated EM grids with ∼500 nm holes spaced 4 μm apart centre-to-centre. We demonstrate that these grids can be used for cryo-EM. Furthermore, we show that by applying image shifts to obtain movies of the carbon regions beside the holes after imaging the holes, the contrast transfer function (CTF) parameters needed for calculation of high-resolution cryo-EM maps with a DDD can be obtained efficiently.     

The application of fractal clustering to efficient molecular ray tracing on low-cost computers

Ray tracing is a powerful, and highly computer intensive means for generating high-quality molecular displays. A variety of simple, yet effective optimization strategies are described that allow large molecular models to be ray traced on microcomputers and low-cost desktop workstations. In particular, the method of fractal clustering provides a time and space-efficient means for spatially subdividing the molecular scene into a hierarchy of spherical bounding volumes, permitting ray-atom intersections to be determined by a form of binary search. An implementation of the algorithms, MolRay, is described which demonstrates that large structures may be ray traced in a reasonable time on a PC or small Unix workstation. Images generated by PC and Unix versions of MolRay are shown.     

A general strategy to solve the phase problem in RNA crystallography

X-ray crystallography of biologically important RNA molecules has been hampered by technical challenges, including finding heavy-atom derivatives to obtain high-quality experimental phase information. Existing techniques have drawbacks, limiting the rate at which important new structures are solved. To address this, we have developed a reliable means to localize heavy atoms specifically to virtually any RNA. By solving the crystal structures of thirteen variants of the G*U wobble pair cation binding motif, we have identified a version that when inserted into an RNA helix introduces a high-occupancy cation binding site suitable for phasing. This "directed soaking" strategy can be integrated fully into existing RNA crystallography methods, potentially increasing the rate at which important structures are solved and facilitating routine solving of structures using Cu-Kalpha radiation. This method already has been used to solve several crystal structures.     

Dynamic molecules: molecular dynamics for everyone. An internet-based access to molecular dynamic simulations: basic concepts

Molecular dynamics is a rapidly developing field of science and has become an established tool for studying the dynamic behavior of biomolecules. Although several high quality programs for performing molecular dynamic simulations are freely available, only well-trained scientists are currently able to make use of the broad scientific potential that molecular dynamic simulations offer to gain insight into structural questions at an atomic level. The "Dynamic Molecules" approach is the first internet portal that provides an interactive access to set up, perform and analyze molecular dynamic simulations. It is completely based on standard web technologies and uses only publicly available software. The aim is to open molecular dynamics techniques to a broader range of users including undergraduate students, teachers and scientists outside the bioinformatics field. The time-limiting factors are the availability of free capacity on the computing server to run the simulations and the time required to transport the history file through the internet for the animation mode. The interactive access mode of the portal is acceptable for animations of molecules having up to about 500 atoms.Figure Several main menus (see top) are provided to start "New Simulations", to "Display Simulations" and to "Analyze" statistical and geometrical properties of the molecule. Here the "Display Simulation" interface is shown. The Chime plugin is used to visualize molecular 3D structures and motions.     

Spatiotemporal chemical dynamics in living cells: from information trafficking to cell physiology

Biological thought in the 20th century was dominated by the study of structures at increasingly minute levels. For biology to advance beyond structural reductionism and contribute its full measure to clinical care, living biological structures must be understood in the context of their collective chemical processes at the relevant chemical time-scales. Using high-speed fluorescence microscopy, we have studied intra- and inter-cellular signaling using shutter speeds ( approximately 100 ns) that remove the effects of wave motion and diffusion from optical images. By collecting a series of such images, stop-action movies of signal trafficking in living cells are created; these have revealed a new level of spatiotemporal chemical organization within cells. Numerous types of chemical waves have been found in living cells expressing a great variety of physical properties. In this article I will review some of these basic findings, discuss these events in the context of information trafficking, and illustrate the potential implications of this work in medicine.