VRML in Cancer Research Local Molecular Properties of the p53 Tumor Suppressor Protein-DNA Interface

Abstract

The three-dimensional structure information of the p53 core domain-DNA complex is presented. The Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML), a new concept of information transfer is used for this biochemical application. VRML provides an object oriented method for the three-dimensional description of molecular models [1, 2].

This VRML-WWW pages contain the 3D structure of the p53 core domain-DNA complex crystallized by Pavletich and coworkers [3], now available from the Brookhaven Protein Databank, and the p53-DNA binding region with related biochemical information like hydrophilicity/lipophilicity and local electrostatic partial charges.

These investigations are done in a close cooperation with H. Bartsch and his group at the Division of Toxicology & Cancer Risk Factor Prevention of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany.