Command-line Usage

The command-line tool is dabble. Run with no arguments to see a list of all arguments, or for help:

dabble -h

The protein

Dabble takes as input a pdb, mae, or dms file containing a prepared protein of interest:

-i <protein file name>

"Prepared" in this context means hydrogens are added, caps (if desired) are added to the end of protein chains, and missing atoms, residues, or loops have been filled in. Dabble will not add or remove atoms from the input protein.

The protein will be centered in the XY plane and the membrane will be added around it on the XY plane. Water will be added in the Z dimension. If your protein is not oriented right or you need to move it, there are several ways to fix it.

The simplest is to pre-align to the Orientation of Proteins in Membranes database when preparing the protein for dabbling.

Alternatively, Dabble can attempt to perform an alignment. Note that due to the functionality available in the vmd-python backend, the alignment must be done to equal numbers of atoms in the reference and target proteins. You can specify which atoms should be aligned using a VMD atom selection language, which defaults to protein and backbone.:

--opm-pdb <opm pdb file> --opm-align "protein and backbone"

You can also manually specify the orientation of the protein relative to the membrane in terms of its angle to the membrane and Z offset. The membrane angle is the rotation of the membrane relative to the axis of the protein, in degrees, as on the OPM website. Z offset is applied directly to the protein's coordinates. The membrane is always centered in the XY plane.:

--move-solute <z offset> --membrane-rotation <degrees>

The membrane or solvent

If no membrane is specified, Dabble will use a POPC membrane. However, you may also specify your own. The membrane should be equilibrated, and can include any amount of water in the +- Z direction, as Dabble will trim excess. If there is insufficient water to solvate your protein, Dabble will add more, but it will require equilibration.

To build your own membranes for Dabble using CHARMM-GUI, please read membranes

The membrane should be oriented on the XY plane and in mae file format.:

-M <membrane mae file>

If you don't want a membrane, Dabble can also solvate in TIP3 water with the following option::

-M TIP3

Ions

Dabble will add ions in the solvent to the desired salt concentration (defaults to 0.150 M, which is approximately physiological). Then, anions or cations will be deleted until the system is neutral.

Currently the supported cations are Na:sub:+ and K:sub:+, with Na:sub:+ being the default.:

--cation K

To add ions just so the system is neutral::

--salt-concentration 0.0

Geometry specification

Dabble builds the system by inserting the protein into a membrane, then adding water and ions. The exact dimensions of the membrane, and amount of water, can all be specified.

I recommend using a buffer-based specification, where water and lipid are placed so that there is the specified amount of padding in the X, Y, and Z dimensions.

The buffer distance is from the edge of the protein to the edge of the periodic box, so the distance between protein images is double this value.:

--membrane-buffer-dist 17.5 --water-buffer 10.0

For water-only systems, no need to specify the membrane buffer:

-M TIP3 --water-buffer 15.0

The X and Y dimensions of the protein are handled separately using the buffer-based calculation, so the resulting system may not be square. If instead you want to manually specify your system size, you can use the following options. This will produce a system where the periodic box is 50 x 50 x 100 A.:

--absolute-x 50.0 --absolute-y 50.0 --absolute-z 100.0

You can mix the buffer-based and absolute system size specifications. Any absolute dimensions will take priority.:

--membrane-buffer-dist 20.0 --absolute-z 50.0

Desired output

Dabble aims to be a one stop shop for all your system building and parameterization needs, and supports output in a variety of formats, including common structure files as well as parameterized input files for CHARMM, Desmond, and AMBER using the CHARMM or AMBER force fields.

All intermediate files are saved, so if you want an AMBER prmtop, you will also get the mae file made along the way. This can be useful in validating or visualizing your structure, and can save you the time of having to run Dabble more than once.

Dabble will refuse to create output files if they would overwrite other files with the same name. To allow overwriting to happen::

--overwrite

Structure only

If you just want a built structure, Dabble can give you a mae, dms, or pdb file.:

-o <output.dms/output.mae/output.pdb>

The file format will be guessed from the extension, and no additional input is needed.

Using CHARMM parameters

Dabble interfaces with psfgen to create a protein structure file (psf), and coordinate file (pdb) describing the system with CHARMM atom types and parameters.

Dabble does all the heavy lifting, most of which is dealing with the quirks of psfgen and handling translation from pdb atom names and types to CHARMM ones. This matching functionality can even detect and apply patches! For more on how this is done, please see parameterization.

By default, the CHARMM36m atom names, types, and topologies are used when you specify the -ff charmm36 flag indicating you want CHARMM parameters. You can also use the older CHARMM36 parameters with the -ff charmm36 flag. You can also use the Dabble API and create a CharmmWriter instance with override_default=True and your own forcefield files.

Provide additional str, rtf/top, or par/prm files with the appropriate flag. Each flag may used multiple times in case you need to add multiple additional parameter sets.:

-o output.psf -ff charmm36m -top ligand1.rtf -top ligand2.rtf -par ligands.prm -str ligand3.str

If you want to simulate in AMBER with CHARMM parameters, Dabble will invoke the ParmEd API to produce AMBER input files with CHARMM parameters. Just request an AMBER format output topology file (prmtop) and specify CHARMM parameterization -ff charmm. A coordinate file (inpcrd) will also be produced in AMBER format.:

-o output.prmtop -ff charmm36m -str ligand.str

NOTE: These files may not view correctly in older versions of VMD. There will be a complaint about the CTITLE record and no bond will appear. This is due to VMD incorrectly parsing the prmtop and not any errors in the process. I have submitted a patch to the VMD developers, but in the meantime I recommend loading the intermediate psf file to check or visualize simulations.

AMBER parameters

If you want to simulate in AMBER using AMBER parameters, Dabble interfaces with your local installation of AmberTools to generate a topology file (prmtop) and coordinates (inpcrd) suitable for simulation. You will need a local installation of AmberTools in the location specified by the environment variable $AMBERHOME.

Request AMBER parameterization with the -ff amber flag. By default, the ff14SB protein parameter set, lipid14 lipid parameteres, and TIP3P water model, and GAFF2 small molecule parameters will be used. To override these defaults, use the Dabble API and create an AmberWriter instance with the override_defaults=True option set and your own forcefield files. A command line flag may be available soon.

Provide parameter and residue definition files for ligands (off or lib files) using the -top flag, forcefield definition leaprc files with the -str flag, and additional parameters frcmod with the -par flag. Dabble will look for leaprc files in the $AMBERHOME/dat/leap/cmd directory as well as the current folder if no explicit path is provided.:

-o output.prmtop -ff amber -top ligand.off -par ligand.frcmod -str leaprc.gaff

Less common options

The following options are helpful, but not required to Dabble your system.

Hydrogen mass repartitioning

To run your simulations in AMBER with timesteps up to 4 fs, Dabble can use the ParmEd API to conduct hydrogen mass repartitioning. This only works when requesting output in AMBER formats.:

-o output.prmtop --hmr

Lipid-protein interactions

Dabble inserts the protein into the membrane by tiling the membrane patch until it is of appropriate size, overlapping the protein with it, and deleting any lipids that are in the way. There are several ways to alter this behavior.

Use a "lipid friendly selection" to specify protein or ligand atoms that are allowed to be much closer to the lipid atoms than protein atoms normally would be. The selection is the VMD's atom select syntax. Usually the "resname" keyword works well.:

--lipid-friendly-sel "resname PCYS"

To specify atoms that are part of greasy or lipid residues with rings that may run into other lipids, use the lipid clash check option. Cholesterol is really the prime example of this.:

--lipid-clash-check "resname CLOL"

You can also specify the minimum distance between protein and lipid residues to move the lipid either closer or farther from the protein. The default value is 1.75 A.:

--lipid-dist 2.0

Sometimes Dabble may not recognize your custom membrane as being composed of lipids. If this is the case, you can manually specify an atom selection for the lipid residues. The default value will pull out the following resnames: DLPE DMPC DPPC GPC LPPC PALM PC PGCL POPC POPE POPG POPS. Note that these are resnames in the original input file provided to Dabble, as lipid selection matters during the build phase.:

--lipid-selection "resname DOPC"