User guide

Drawing biopolymers
Biopolymers are complex molecular assemblies that adopt precise and defined shapes and structures. Their defined
shape and structure are in fact keys to their role. Biopolymers are chain-like molecules made up of repeating chemical
blocks and can be very long in length. Biopolymers are classified in three groups, depending on the nature of the
repeating unit they are made of:
Polysaccharides are made of sugars
Proteins of amino acids
Nucleic acids of nucleotides
ChemBioDraw provides a friendly interface allowing users to draw biopolymers and create sequences easily. Using
the Biopolymer editor, users can draw polypeptides and nucleotide sequences using pre-defined labels assigned to
nucleic and amino acids. You can expand, contract, or remove labels to complete the drawing.
To display the Biopolymer toolbar, go to View>Show Biopolymer Toolbar. The Biopolymers toolbar appears:
The Biopolymers toolbar includes the following options:
Biopolymer Editor: enables all the nucleic and amino acids except Gly (G)
Single Letter Amino Acid: enables all the amino acids except Gly (G)
Beta Amino Acids, L-Amino Acids, D-amino Acids: enables addition of Beta, L-, and D- amino acids.
DNA Sequence: enables the nucleobases that can be used to create a DNA molecule
RNA Sequence: enables the nucleobases that can be used to create a RNA molecule
To draw a sequence:
1. Select one of these tools from the Biopolymer toolbar:
AA1 tool (Single-letter amino acid tool). Create a polypeptide chain using a one-letter label to represent each
amino acid. You can create the sequences by typing the IUPAC code for
the standard amino acids, or by pressing the keys on the toolbar. By default, L amino-acids will be created. Single
letter sequences are drawn with a fixed separation, so that residues align with residues in adjacent rows. You can
create D-amino acids using the D amino acid stereochemistry option. Single letter D-amino acids are displayed in
lower case. Three-letter D amino acids have the prefix "D-".
ChemBioDraw 13.0
Chapter 5: Drawing biopolymers 60 of 401