The advent of cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET), coupled with computational modeling, has enabled the creation of integrative 3D models of viruses, bacteria, and cellular organelles. These models, composed of thousands of macromolecules and billions of atoms, have historically posed significant challenges for manipulation and visualization without specialized molecular graphics tools and hardware. With the recent advancements in GPU rendering power and web browser capabilities, it is now feasible to render interactively large molecular scenes directly on the web. In this work, we introduce Mesoscale Explorer, a web application built using the Mol* framework, dedicated to the visualization of large-scale molecular models ranging from viruses to cell organelles. Mesoscale Explorer provides unprecedented access and insight into the molecular fabric of life, enhancing perception, streamlining exploration, and simplifying visualization of diverse data types, showcasing the intricate details of these models with unparalleled clarity.

Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology The Scripps Research Institute La Jolla California USA

Independent San Diego California USA

National Centre for Biomolecular Research Faculty of Science Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic

Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics Protein Data Bank Rutgers The State University of New Jersey Piscataway New Jersey USA

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bioRxiv. 2024 Sep 03:2024.09.02.610826. doi: 10.1101/2024.09.02.610826. PubMed

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