Institut für Molekulare Biotechnologie, Postfach 100813, D-07708 Jena, Germany
Visualization plays a central role in "understanding"
biopolymer structures.
The usual visualization method is to retrieve the coordinate files from
a structure database and then to use one of the molecular graphics
software
packages. On the other hand, one would often prefer to have biopolymer
images
directly available without the need to spend some time for visualization
or even without having access to a molecular graphics software. This is
especially important for the large and heterogenous community outside
structural
biology.
The recent developments in the World-Wide Web enable one very easily to
transfer images or videos over the Internet. We have, therefore, started
in 1993 to set up an Internet-based Image Library of Biological
Macromolecules (http://www.imb-jena.de/IMAGE.html) [1]. Currently,
the Image Library contains about 3500 images of about 300
structures. The images are in the public domain and can freely be
retrieved.
In 1995 the new VRML format was defined. The Virtual Reality Modeling
Language
(VRML) is essentially a three-dimensional image format supplemented by
network
tools. Contrary to the static images it enables one to interact with the
three-dimensional image objects. Of course, for biopolymers this can be
done much better using molecular graphics packages. On the other hand,
VRML
viewers are already becoming standard parts of current web browsers.
Insofar
it is immediately obvious that this new tool is of relevance for
structural
biology.
We have therefore extended the Image Library by a Virtual Reality
Division.
Besides the pioneering work done at the Imperial College London and at
the
Technical University of Darmstadt, this was one of the first VRML
applications
in biology and to the best of our knowledge the very first application
which
was not devoted to demonstration purposes alone. The VRML division
contains
now already about 650 VRML representations. Even though the current VRML
viewers, like WebSpace for example, still suffer from a lot of problems
especially for high-quality images of large structures, the new format
has
already a lot to offer for a better dissemination of structural
information
on biopolymers. One interesting application we expect in the near future
is that online journals will include VRML images.
[1}Sühnel, J., Image Library of Biological Macromolecules, Comput. Appl. Biosci. 1996, 12, 227-229.