Lipid Bilayers and the Gramicidin Channel
Listed in the World Index of Molecular Visualization Resources.
Modelo de bicapa lipídica y canal de gramicidina -- en español.
(Si tienes problemas para acceder, entra desde la página principal.)

 
This presentation requires Netscape 4.08-4.76. It does NOT work in Netscape 6, nor Internet Explorer.

Do you see rotating molecules at the top corners of this page? If you see at the top corners of this page, you do not have Chime installed. You will not be able to see the lipid bilayer unless you have the Chime plugin installed. Download the Chime installer. If you have problems, see troubleshooting.

   In contrast to some other web pages presenting molecular models in Chime, this presentation works properly only if you press the buttons in the order in which they appear. Also unlike some other Chime presentations, the presentation works best if you do not rotate, zoom, or otherwise alter the molecule between buttons. Doing this will change subsequent images, affecting the rest of the presentation. You may use Protein Explorer to rotate, zoom, and change the color schemes and display rendering of these molecules -- see links to Protein Explorer below.
Buttons highlighted in this way can be used as a starting point for restoring the proper image sequence in the presentation.

To go to one of the sections below, press the Start Presentation button, then the Next Page link until you arrive at the desired section.
Sections:
  • Cholesterol
  • Phospholipid
  • Lipid bilayer
  • Gramicidin channel in bilayer
This presentation can be downloaded for off-line use.


Explore molecules from the presentation in Protein Explorer:
Cholesterol
Phosphatidyl choline
20 PC's, crystalline leaflet model
40 PC's in crystalline bilayer model, hydrated
PC bilayer, crystalline model, hydrated
PC bilayer, gel model, hydrated
PC bilayer, fluid model, hydrated
Gramicidin channel in PE bilayer, hydrated model


   Chime format © 2001 by Angel Herráez (Dept. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Alcalá, 28871 Alcalá de Henares, Spain).
   Content adapted by Angel Herráez from a RasMol "Movie" Script, © 1997 by Eric Martz (Dept. Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003-5720, U.S.A.).
   Use and copying are allowed for educational, non-profit purposes. For-profit users are required to execute an agreement with the authors.

   Includes a molecular dynamics simulation of the phosphatidylcholine bilayer in water, by H. Heller, M. Schaefer and K. Schulten at the Theoretical Biophysics Group, Beckmann Institute, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, U.S.A. ("Molecular dynamics simulation of a bilayer of 200 lipids in the gel and in the liquid-crystal phases", J. Phys. Chem. 97:8343-60, 1993).
   Also includes a molecular dynamics simulation of gramicidin in a bilayer, by S. Crouzy, T.B. Woolf  and B. Roux at CENG, Centre d'Etudes Atomiques, Grenoble, France, and Chemistry Dept., Université de Montreal, Montreal H3C 3J7 Canada ("A molecular dynamics  study of gating in dioxolane-linked gramicidin A channels", Biophys. J. 67:1370-86, 1994).