FirstGlance in Jmol (FGiJ) is better for most people, in most cases:
- FGiJ is easier to use.
- You don't need to install anything.
- FGiJ works
in the most popular browsers on Windows, Mac OS X, and linux.
- You can present
your results with
static snapshots of your ConSurf results
pasted into Powerpoint slides.
- FGiJ easily colors salt bridges and cation-pi orbital interactions
by conservation (possible but not easy in Protein Explorer).
Protein Explorer (PE):
Both FirstGlance in Jmol and Protein Explorer
- Are easy to use, and have lots of help built-in.
- Have essentially the same control panel specialized for viewing ConSurf results.
- Enable you to find, in the 3D view, the locations of residues
with specified sequence numbers or ranges.
- In FGiJ: go to the FirstGlance control panel, and use Find...
- In PE: click on Clickable ConSurf-Colored Sequence 3D.
- Enable you to display the close contacts (non-covalently bonded atoms)
for any moiety you select, colored by conservation.
- In FGiJ: go to the FirstGlance control panel, and use Contacts...
- In PE: go to QuickViews. Use the SELECT menu to select something.
Open the DISPAY menu and select Contacts.
Use the Decorated Surface option. Be sure to check Keep present
colors (to keep the ConSurf colors).
- Enable you to download your results as
a ConSurf-modified PDB file, containing
the ConSurf coloring scheme (as a command script inserted into the
header). Thus, you can save your results for later
viewing (after they are removed from the ConSurf server), without having
to set up and re-run your job.
- Can display the ConSurf Job Information including the
submitted job parameters and a summary of the results.
Feedback to Eric Martz.