Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/TMV diagram

Tobacco Mosaic Virus diagram[edit]

Voting period is over. Please don't add any new votes. Voting period ends on 12 Mar 2015 at 04:13:22 (UTC)

Reason: A clear, concise, informative figure depicting the organisation of components of the virus
Articles in which this image appears: Tobacco mosaic virus
FP category for this image: Sciences
Creator: Splette

Support as nominator – T.Shafee(Evo﹠Evo)^talk 04:13, 2 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Comment While it's certainly good to have a numbered version on Commons for other languages, wouldn't it simplify its use here to put well-sized labels directly on it? Adam Cuerden ^(talk) 12:01, 6 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I see your point. I will upload an alternative version with English labels instead of numbers. SPLETTE :] ^{How's my driving?} 15:35, 7 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Support --Jobas (talk) 13:15, 6 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Comment - It's not clear to me how the thin, straight, blue-green "stick" becomes incorporated into the capsomer protein. I see the straight lines with a circle around it, but that doesn't make it clear enough to a non-expert. CorinneSD (talk) 18:46, 6 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think it's "incorporated"; I think the left-hand diagram is a blow-up of a small section of the "stick". I didn't find it clear at first that the four sticks are all equivalent, just randomly oriented, and that the label "3" applies equally to all of them. I saw it in two halves, with the right-hand three sticks part of a different (related) diagram showing some new structure. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 31.51.2.19 (talk) 00:32, 7 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

That's true - the three viral capsids on the right are superfluous. Label three would be better applied to the capsid with the circled section. (Additionally @Splette: I forgot to ping you earlier) T.Shafee(Evo﹠Evo)^talk 01:52, 7 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Oh.... Would it be asking too much to show some connection to the tobacco plant? Perhaps if the sticks on the right are removed, there would be room to add something. CorinneSD (talk) 01:58, 7 March 2015 (UTC) ^{We're a demanding bunch. ;) CorinneSD (talk) 01:59, 7 March 2015 (UTC)}[reply]

Hi all. I made the image, thanks for nominating it! I'll happily edit the image if there's a consensus to modify it in order to improve it further. But let's discuss first. I've slightly edited the image to change the orientation of the full virus capsid ('stick') that's being magnified more upright. Now it better matches the orientation of the close-up view, so I hope this will make it a bit clearer that what we see on the left is a magnified view of the entire virus capsid. As for removing the three sticks on the right, I think we should keep them because in the actual EM images of the virus like the one used in the article there are also a whole bunch of sticks, not just a single one. Therefore I believe that showing several sticks in the diagram will make it easier for the viewer to grasp that those sticks are in fact the same thing we see in the EM pic. The other thing is that we need at least one horizontal stick for the 300nm scale bar. Another suggestion raised was to add a photo of a tobacco plant. That would be easy to add. I just wonder if it's necessary. The scope of this illustration as far as I see it is to explain the structure and scale of the virus capsid. I'm not sure how a photo of the host plant would help with that. Adding a pic of a spotty tobacco plat leaf is nice to show the effects the virus has on the plant but I think that's not the purpose of this diagram. There is a separate section about that in the article (including photos). SPLETTE :] ^{How's my driving?} 15:33, 7 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Is it possible to somehow have the "3" label all of the "sticks" rather than just two of them? I know you could say it is obvious, but I think the placement of the "3" contributes to the impression that the right three sticks are showing a different structure. Also, perhaps the placement of some of the sticks could be adjusted to make the left-most one seem more a part of the group. 217.44.208.185 (talk) 20:33, 7 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, that's certainly possible. I prepared such a version here. Not sure though, if that's really making a difference for the better... SPLETTE :] ^{How's my driving?} 00:58, 9 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose Having 4 of the sticks suggests there is a significance to that number, if there is a reason there are 4 drawn then it's not clear why. Also it's missing information, what does the light blue and dark blue represent. Do those proteins have names? I think this diagram needs a rethink, and have a much more sensible layout. Mattximus (talk) 23:42, 7 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Comment I agree with User:Mattximus that the light and dark blue need to be labeled and that more thought needs to be given to this diagram. Regarding the sticks on the right, I believe it doesn't matter how many there are. In reality, there are probably quite a few on a plant leaf. Perhaps there should be a few more, and, except for one showing the length, they could all be arranged in a more random order, with some even smaller showing they're slightly more distant. Also, since it looks like the light and dark blue image at the left represents the top few millimeters, or micro-millimeters (whatever they are) of the stick, the thin lines should be pointing to a point just below the top of the stick, not two-thirds of the way down. Either that or have a clearer indication that this is a section of the stick, perhaps with a cut-out. CorinneSD (talk) 04:18, 8 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Concerning the top of the capsid: here is a version that makes it clear that the close-up on the left is a magnification of the top-end of the capsid. Is that an improvement= Then again, the image on the left only shows the RNA coming out of the capsid to make it clear to the viewer, that the RNA lies within the capsid and is attached to the capsomeres, thus following the same corkskew pattern. However, in reality it does not actually extend outside the top of the capsid. SPLETTE :] ^{How's my driving?} 00:53, 9 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Well, then maybe it should come from the middle of the stick and not the top. Isn't there a way to show that it is a cross-section of the stick? CorinneSD (talk) 01:26, 9 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Not Promoted -- — Crisco 1492 (talk) 05:53, 12 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]