Versatile annotation and publication quality visualization of protein complexes using POLYVIEW-3D

We present a new tool for protein structure analysis, with the focus on annotation and visualization of protein complexes, which is an extension of our previously developed POLYVIEW web server. By integrating the web technology with state-of-the-art software for macromolecular visualization, such as the PyMol program, POLYVIEW-3D enables combining versatile structural and functional annotations with a simple web-based interface for creating publication quality structure rendering, as well as animated images for Powerpoint？, web sites and other electronic resources. The service is platform independent and no plug-ins are required. Several examples of how POLYVIEW-3D can be used for structural and functional analysis in the context of protein-protein interactions are presented to illustrate the available annotation options.POLYVIEW-3D server features the PyMol image rendering that provides detailed and high quality presentation of macromolecular structures, with an easy to use web-based interface. POLYVIEW-3D also provides a wide array of options for automated structural and functional analysis of proteins and their complexes. Thus, the POLYVIEW-3D server may become an important resource for researches and educators in the fields of protein science and structural bioinformatics. The new server is available at http://polyview.cchmc.org/polyview3d.html webcite.Computational tools for protein structure visualization, analysis and functional annotation are being constantly developed and improved in order to enable better integration with quickly evolving proteomic databases and other on-line resources, to facilitate and automate annotation tasks of ever increasing complexity, and to address the growing demand for high quality structure rendering. In regard to the latter, emerging new technologies gave rise to a number of advanced, stand-alone tools for macromolecular graphics, including the PyMol program [1] that combines the beauty of modern graphics libraries with the p