Acto-myosin complex

Edit: If you happen to print one, please share a make! :) 

The model is based off the PDB files 6BNO and 1SR6, which I converted to 3d meshes with UCSF ChimeraX (I included these files in case you want to print the protein structures on their own; ‘PDB-1SR6-myosin-ELC-RLC’ and ‘PDB-6BNO-f-actin’). 

All alignments have been ‘eye-balled’. This includes the extension of the actin, the modelling of the two myosin head domains from one domain given in PDB 1RS6, as well as their position relative to each other in the image. The thick filament and myosin tail domains were freely formed to resemble actomyosin schematics that can be found online and in many publications. The model is not up to scale.

This was modelled for an exhibition of the excellence cluster ‘physics of life’ at the Technische Universität Dresden. The exhibition can be seen at the Technische Sammlungen Dresden until May 2024. 

Printing:

Material:

• PLA

Printer:

• Prusa mini+ (0.4 nozzel)
• 0.25 mm layer height (DRAFT)
• 5% infill 
• Supports: yes (I recommend ‘organic’ supports)
• To fit ‘Thick-filament-myosin’ on a prusa mini I had to split the file into 3 parts.