High-performance macromolecular data delivery and visualization for the web

Acta Crystallogr D Struct Biol. 2020 Dec 1;76(Pt 12):1167-1173. doi: 10.1107/S2059798320014515. Epub 2020 Nov 26.

Abstract

Biomacromolecular structural data make up a vital and crucial scientific resource that has grown not only in terms of its amount but also in its size and complexity. Furthermore, these data are accompanied by large and increasing amounts of experimental data. Additionally, the macromolecular data are enriched with value-added annotations describing their biological, physicochemical and structural properties. Today, the scientific community requires fast and fully interactive web visualization to exploit this complex structural information. This article provides a survey of the available cutting-edge web services that address this challenge. Specifically, it focuses on data-delivery problems, discusses the visualization of a single structure, including experimental data and annotations, and concludes with a focus on the results of molecular-dynamics simulations and the visualization of structural ensembles.

Keywords: browser-based; data delivery; macromolecules; visualization; web-based.

MeSH terms

  • Computer Graphics*
  • Internet*
  • Macromolecular Substances / chemistry*
  • Software*
  • User-Computer Interface*

Substances

  • Macromolecular Substances