Here's a render of a full eukaryotic replisome carrying out DNA replication. This was built using real .pdb data from rcsb pdb 💉🧬💻🔬💊🌱🧠🦠 I used this to make my latest video: ( But now I want to do a quick works cited 🧵 (1/ ?)

The main backbone structure here came from two brilliant sets of Cryo-EM data published by the @Yeeles_Lab at the @MRC_LMB (with @mljones1993 ) Incredible science happening there.

CMG Helicase is the primary motor that does the work of DNA translocation. MCM 3 on the left in dark blue. The motion here is a merge between CMG Helicase states 2B → 2A → 1A as described in this paper from the Costa lab @TheCrick

The leading strand ssDNA is pulled down through Helicase until it hits DNA Polymerase Epsilon. This render was generated from structures deposited by the O'Donnell Lab at @HHMINEWS & Huilin Li's team at @VAInstitute

The lagging strand is separated from the leading strand at the top of CMG Helicase. The channel that drives that separation is really well illustrated by another strong @HHMINEWS and @VAInstitute collaboration here:

As the lagging strand exits Helicase, it hits the Primosome. This loop is just two of the primosome's Apo state conformations as described by (you guessed it) a collaboration between the O'Donnell Lab and Huilin Li's lab.

For the full RNA/DNA priming cycle in the first loop--I heavily on this BEAUTIFUL paper from @BFEichman and his team at the @VanderbiltCSB -- incredible work unraveling a very complicated sequence of conformational changes:

All morphs were generated via @UCSFChimeraX and imported into @Blender via @bradyajohnston 's molecular nodes extension. I styled these structures almost entirely using @DoubleGum_ 's Clay Doh shader.

The background for all these is a very simplified simulated nucleus. Tetranucleosomes are stacked into 30nm fibers in the background, with nuclear pores and the nuclear lamina sometimes visible. I was trying to reference @dsgoodsell 's classic painting:

Also huge shoutout to @prash_singh and @smartereveryday for posting their awesome collaboration using #molecularNodes a week before I uploaded this monster. Legitimately feels like they primed the whole internet for biochem videos

@buildmodels This is a beautiful animation! And the YouTube video is well done. 👏👏👏