![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/psquared\/files\/2010\/04\/embor775-f2.gif\" "\\"embor775-f2\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nHere is an image of one domain of the protein.\u00a0 It incorporates a decent number of beta strands, but it contains relatively few alpha helices.<\/p>\n
I had mentioned that I may consider wrapping guitar strings around drum sticks to form the alpha helices; however, since the helices in this protein are relatively short and drum sticks are very sturdy, I will likely choose something else to form the alpha helices, which will allow me to use drum sticks as part of the scaffold instead.<\/p>\n Materials being considered:<\/p>\n *Guitar strings to represent chains not organized into secondary structures<\/p>\n *Guitar picks, glued end-to-end in an arrow-like fashion, to represent beta strands<\/p>\n *Speaker wire to represent alpha helices (I may swap the role of guitar string and speaker wire, as guitar strings would probably keep the helical shape longer and better)<\/p>\n *Drum sticks as the major structural material (i.e. pillars to hold up the model)<\/p>\n *Saxophone reeds as the minor structural material<\/p>\n *LOTS of Super-Glue!<\/p>\n Let me know what you think!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Well, I mentioned that I wanted to choose a protein with some connection to music.\u00a0 After doing a bit of browsing around on Google Scholar, I came across the structural protein harmonin.\u00a0 This protein helps to maintain the structure of … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n