3D molecular modeling: from theory to applications

Genomic sequences are initially known by their linear form. However, they have also a three-dimensional structure which can be useful for genomes analysis. This 3D structure representation brings a new point of view for the sequences analysis. It was established that the importance of the molecular spatial structure has created increasingly a growing interest for 3D modeling molecules. Therefore, several studies have described the design of software for 3D molecular visualization. Some of these tools offer even 3D molecular manipulation through virtual models. But these 3D models are often based on predictive methods leading to a family of so-called predictive models. This constraint has meant that biologists doubt the effectiveness of these models, thinking they lack of structural realism and therefore functional one. The solution that we propose is the confrontation between models and real data. This approach compares 3D virtual models and real microscopic images of the same molecule in order to validate and/or improve the 3D model. User interaction is possible to enhance comparison.