This is a simple demo showing the protein Thymidylate Synthase.
In the active site of the protein are an inhibitor and a cofactor.
The cofactor must be present for the protein to act on a substrate.
The inhibitor takes the place of the substrate, allowing the protein to
be crystallized in a captured conformation, bound to the inhibitor.
Drugs are being designed against this protein, as it is present in all
living things which make DNA.
This protein is one of the proteins in the path for making Thymidine, one
of the four DNA bases. It is an anti-cancer drug target, as fast growing
cancer cells need to produce lots of DNA to grow and survive.
Temporary blockage of Thymidylate Synthase would cause death of all dividing
cancer cells and other rapidly dividing cells.
Start the demo by typing : midas -f ts (on a DEC Alpha: midas -fullscreen ts)
By pressing the "1" or "2" key, followed by a return, short scripts will be run in MidasPlus that
either reset the canonical viewing position and put the session into stereo
("1"),
or display an image showing the cofactor and inhibitor in neon sticks,
and the rest of the active site of Thymidylate Synthase as full sized spheres
("2").