Incorporating chemical structures into scientific figures.

Of great import for biochemistry articles is the inclusion of chemical structures in figures; they are common for showing reactions, detailing protein side chains and modifications, and depicting chemical probes. In this ninth installment of the TrendsTalk Special series: Scientific figure development, two scientists share their thoughts: what aspects do you consider when generating a figure that contains chemical structures? How do you decide how to represent the chemical/residue structure(s) (i.e., level of detail, color, mechanisms, etc.)? What program(s) do you prefer for generating such figures and why? The scientists we hear from in this installment are Ruma Banerjee, primary author of ‘Gas regulation of complex II reversal via electron shunting to fumarate in the mammalian ETC’ ([1], see Figure 2) and Yael David, primary author of ‘Non-enzymatic covalent modifications as a new chapter in the histone code’ ([2], see, e.g., Figure 3), and Jennifer C. Chan, first author of ‘Nothing is yet set in (hi)stone: novel post-translational modifications regulating chromatin function’ ([3], see Figure 2).