B12: Displaying Electrostatic Surfaces.
Electrostatics often plays an important role in biological interactions. For example, many DNA-protein interactions utilize favorable electrostatic interactions.To display an electrostatic surface on a molecule your first have to create the surface:
1: Select the following set of menu options:
Select¬Display List¬Create Molecular Surface
After a few seconds, the molecule will be covered with a white surface.
2. You then need to color the surface according to the electrostatic
potential, as follows:
Select¬Display List¬Color
¬Electrostatic Potential¬Color Red-White-Blue
Regions of the surface that have a negative electrostatic potential are
colored red while regions with a positive electrostatic potential are colored blue.
3. The surface you have created also obscures the underlying structure. To see both features you can make the colored surface semi-transparent:
Select¬Display List¬Toggle Transparency
