I was looking for a simple schematic representation of DNA – protein interaction and didn’t find anything of the sort on the web. Below is what I came up with. I hope that some of you might find it useful.
DNA
The two strands of DNA are represented by two wavy lines, using the decoration coil. I slightly shifted one line to the right.
\documentclass[border=10pt]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.pathmorphing, shapes}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[decoration={coil},
dna/.style={decorate, thick, decoration={aspect=0, segment length=0.5cm}}]
%DNA
\draw[dna, decoration={amplitude=.15cm}] (.1,0) -- (11,0);
\draw[dna, decoration={amplitude=-.15cm}] (0,0) -- (11,0);
\node at (0,0.5) {DNA};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
Proteins and genes
I added proteins and genes using different node styles. The protein names are fictional.
Complete code
\documentclass[border=10pt]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.pathmorphing, shapes}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[decoration={coil},
dna/.style={decorate, thick, decoration={aspect=0, segment length=0.5cm}},
protein/.style={ellipse, draw=white, minimum width=1cm, minimum height=1cm}]
%DNA
\draw[dna, decoration={amplitude=.15cm}] (.1,0) -- (11,0);
\draw[dna, decoration={amplitude=-.15cm}] (0,0) -- (10.8,0);
\node at (0,0.5) {DNA};
%Gene
\node [rounded corners, fill=green!50, thick, inner xsep=30pt] at (8,0) (box){Gene X};
%Promoter proteins
\draw (4.25,0.625) node[protein,minimum width=1.5cm,fill=red!30] {p123};
\node [protein, minimum height=.75cm,fill=blue!30] at (3,1.5) {p12};
\node [protein, minimum height=.75cm,fill=blue!30] at (2.5,1) {p12};
\node [protein, minimum height=.75cm,fill=blue!30] at (3.5,1) {p12};
\node [protein, minimum height=.75cm,fill=blue!30] at (3,0.5) {p12};
\draw (4,1.75) node[protein,fill=green!30] {p34};
\node at (3.5, -0.5) {Promoter};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
Know of a better way to schematically represent DNA and interacting proteins? Please let me know below.