Leucine zipper
Two proteins, entirely alpha helix, wind around each other and terminate in extensions that slide into the major groove of DNA and 'seek' complementary surfaces among the exposed donors/acceptors
Some info and inspiration from UMD
rendering options:
unsigned Jmol applet
signed Jmol applet
JSmol (HTML5 only) Works on iPad! But use 'low power' setting @ lower left
JSmol (WebGL)

Useful Link for Amino Acid Feels: http://blc.arizona.edu/courses/181Lab/surfaces/index.html

Show H-bonds

All spacefill

Color one DNA + one protein molecule

The zipper! (leucine sidechains in yellow)

Alpha helix (of cyan protein) 'looks at' major groove (of DNA); DNA backbone salmon-colored

Arginine kisses a guanine! Notice the 3 basepairing positions of guanine are still free to basepair! (partner cytosine in miniature)

Reset

image display faster sharper
Processor power (choose SMALLER number if everything is laggy):
8 (fast machine)   7  6  5  4  3  2  1 (iPad or pokey)
spacefill wire ball and stick cartoons fancy not flat
color atomno color cpk color structure
console
Instructions

Commands & Interactions
*To find out what atom you're looking at, hover the mouse over it. Amino acids will show up using 3-letter code (i.e. [GLY] = glycine); DNA begins [DT] for thymine, etc. +Gray represents Hydrophobic. Lt. Purple represents Hydrophilic.

~~~Slab refers to a feature of this program. It allows you to move the molecule making parts of it "transparent" as you move it. This will allow you to better see interactions or lack there of.

General Instructions: To zoom in on the molecule right-click the mouse (Mac Users:Hold down control key and click) and on the drop-down menu select zoom and then the percentage. As well, if needed, certain atoms and parts of the protein can be selected and made a different color. To do this, right click (Mac Users:Hold down control key and click), select the color menu, and then select what you would like to color and what color you would like it to be.

Modified from work by SaraBCarey