I’ve had my plan for what I wanted to do for awhile so I figured it’s about time I post about it. I am doing integrase because I’m very passionate about the HIV epidemic and integrase is how viruses are able to “integrate” their DNA into ours. I am trying to mix the artistic with the scientific on this project, and most of the components are symbolic. I purchased a globe which is meant to represent a helper Tcell, it is also a very straight forward symbol of how HIV has really integrated itself into our entire world, no gender, age, or ethnicity has gone untouched. To also demonstrate this point, I have covered the inside of the globe with pictures of people from all different demographics of the world. The CD4 receptor on the Tcell will be represented by a needle, which is also symbolic of how IV drug use has played a very large role in this epidemic. Attached to the receptor will be an HIV molecule, which I think I will probably make out of clay… The needle will be “injecting” red and black ribbon (in the shape of a double helix, which will be the viral DNA, I wanted it to be red and black because they are kind of menacing colors, whereas coming from the other side of the globe will be our human DNA, which I think I will do out of maybe sky blue and pale pink or white ribbon (colors of innocence?). In the middle the two strands of DNA will meet and that is where integrase will be, which I think I am going to make out of colored electrical wire, because it’s light and malleable. Coming out of the bottom of integrase will be DNA that is a mix of both ours and the viruses.
-Erica
Sounds like a truly global game plan. If you go to 3OS1 on the PDB and view the molecule in Protein Workshop, you may want to try viewing it without the “B” chains. That will leave the core protein structure, i.e. the protein in the most intimate contact with the DNA. The core protein alone may be all you need to model with wire since it will get the idea across and streamline the project (avoid clutter!). The core integrase looks to me like a pair of clamps or clips… like vises. I wonder if a pair of vises might represent the integrase’s merciless action?
OK, I looked at this some more. In my previous comment I misused the word “core”. The PDB has several integrase structures showing a core enzyme that has the structure of the outlying “clutter” that I referred to earlier. To help make this clear (or to confuse matters further!) I’m going to post views of the “core integrase (e.g. 2X78) for comparison to the main protein components of the 3OS1 complex (which is the recent molecule of the month at http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/static.do?p=education_discussion/molecule_of_the_month/pdb135_1.html ) …