May 15, 2010 (Vol. 30, No. 10)

URL:
http://www.proteopedia.org

Rating:
Strong Points: Automatically opens 3-D image viewer, Jmol applets load quickly
Weak Points: Limited table of contents, some pages lack content beyond the PDB structure

Summary:

With such a commanding title (Proteopedia: Life in 3D…cue the dramatic music), Proteopedia certainly draws you in. (Hey, if the title doesn’t get you, then the rotating, animated structure of the ribosome on the homepage will.) Proteopedia is a free, collaborative 3-D encyclopedia of proteins and other molecules that says it includes a page for each of the over 58,000 Protein Data Bank (PDB) entries. If that is the case (I didn’t personally have time to check all 58,000+ entries), then the table of contents provides only a narrow view of the site’s contents. Avoiding the table of contents, the best way to explore the site is by scrolling down the page to the browse box. There, one can browse among favorites or search for a specific protein/molecule structure. Alternatively, the random page option in the left-hand menu is also a fun way to explore the contents of the site. (I got Japanese horseshoe crab coagulogen. What about you?)

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