This is a 3d model of a single actin subunit obtained from the PDB entry 2Y83. In the paper, the subunits were observed at comparatively low resolution by cryo-EM. Since nobody's been able to crystallize an actin filament, the best knowledge we have about the nature of actin subunits within the filament comes from low resolution structures like these.

I'll be putting up more structures I make on my blog, pdbprint http://pdbprint.blogspot.com/

EDIT: Oops! Seems like I got my files confused. This is actually from the pdb structure 1ATN, which is not a filament structure. I've got the filament structure ready to print; just haven't gotten around to it yet. I've uploaded it too; maybe you can spot the difference!

Instructions

Print out both halves, then glue them together!

I didn't add pegs or holes or whatnot because the parts are quite small (and I wasn't sure my rig could print them out properly anyway. One could do this easily enough, though.

Since this is the shape of actin within a filament, print out a lot and see if you can put them together into a filament shape!

Category: Other