Hi Arthur, Yes, like Markus said, you could just color by heteroatom, command “color byhet” or menu: Actions… Color… by hetereoatom. It doesn’t change the carbon colors. "Color byelement" is similar except it also makes carbon gray. Of course, you can also just specify whatever colors you like per element symbol, for example, commands: color green,a C color dodger blue,a N color goldenrod,a S color magenta,a O (etc.) I hope this helps, Elaine ---------- Elaine C. Meng, Ph.D. UCSF Chimera(X) team Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry University of California, San Francisco

On Jul 31, 2017, at 9:40 AM, Markus Heller <mheller@cdrd.ca> wrote:

Color by Heteroatom?

From: Chimera-users [mailto:chimera-users-bounces@cgl.ucsf.edu] On Behalf Of Arthur Szabo Sent: Monday, July 31, 2017 8:54 AM To: chimera-users@cgl.ucsf.edu BB <chimera-users@cgl.ucsf.edu> Subject: [Chimera-users] QUESTION

I am working with a stretch of dna oligos bound to proteins.

I selected all the nucleotides on one strand, showed the atoms as sticks. Then I realized I had wiped out the original colors of the atoms, oxygen, red and nitrogen, blue.

How can I restore the atom colors by selecting those nucleotides, and changing the atoms back to their typical colors – as a group. I know how to change the colors of the atoms by first showing them as balls and sticks and then selecting the atoms I want to color. But with 10 nucleotides that is a bit of a pain, selecting them on the screen image. I seem to recall that there is a way to do color all the same atoms at once, but forget how.

If I hide the nucleotide side chains, then show them again, I get back to the view where the atoms are not selectively colored.

Thanks

Arthur G. Szabo