Overview

Creating Pdb objects

There are two main ways to create a Pdb object from a PDB file. The first is from a local PDB file:

>>> import molecupy
>>> pdb = molecupy.get_pdb_from_file("path/to/file.pdb")

This is the quickest way, though it is not always convenient to store PDB files locally. The second way is to fetch the PDB file over the internet:

>>> import molecupy
>>> pdb = molecup.get_pdb_remotely("1LOL")

This takes longer, but it means you can access any published PDB file without needing to manually download them first.

However the text of the PDB file is obtained, the process of parsing it is always the same:

1. First a PdbFile object is created, which is a representation of the file itself. This is essentially a list of records, with methods for getting records of a certain name.

2. This is used to make a PdbDataFile object. This is the object which extracts the data from the file, and is essentially an unstructured list of values.

3. This is used to make a Pdb object, by using the values in the data file to create a user-friendly handle to the information. This is the object returned by the above two methods.

Accessing Pdb properties

Aside from structural information, PDB files also contain many other pieces of information about the file, such as its title, experimental techniques used to create it, publication information etc.

>>> pdb.pdb_code()
'1LOL'
>>> pdb.deposition_date()
datetime.date(2002, 5, 6)
>>> pdb.authors()
['N.WU', 'E.F.PAI']

molecuPy is a reasonably forgiving parser. If records are missing from the PDB file - even records which the PDB specification insists must be present - the file will still parse, and any missing properties will just be set to None or an empty list, whichever is appropriate.

Pdb Models

The heart of a Pdb is its model. A Model represents the structure contained in that PDB file, and is the environment in which all other molecules and structures are based.

All Pdb objects have a list of models, which in most cases will contain a single model. Structures created from NMR will often have multiple models - each containing the same structures but with slightly different coordinates. For ease of use, all Pdb objects also have a model method, which points to the first model in the list.

>>> pdb.models()
[<Model (3431 atoms)>]
>>> pdb.model()
<Model (3431 atoms)>

The Model class is an atomic structure (i.e. it inherits from AtomicStructure) which means you can get certain atomic properties directly from the model, such as mass, formula, and the atoms themselves:

>>> pdb.model().mass()
20630.8656
>>> pdb.model().formula()
Counter({'C': 2039, 'O': 803, 'N': 565, 'S': 22, 'P': 2})
>>> len(pdb.model().atoms())
3431
>>> pdb.model().get_atoms_by_element("P")
{<PdbAtom 3200 (P)>, <PdbAtom 3230 (P)>}
>>> pdb.get_atom_by_id(23)
<PdbAtom 23 (N)>

The complexes, chains and small molecules of the model exist as sets, and can be queried by ID or name:

>>> pdb.model().chains()
{<Chain B (214 residues)>, <Chain A (204 residues)>}
>>> len(pdb.model().small_molecules()) # Includes solvent molecules
184
>>> pdb.model().get_chain_by_id("B")
<Chain B (214 residues)>
>>> pdb.model().get_small_molecules_by_name("XMP")
{<SmallMolecule (XMP)>, <SmallMolecule (XMP)>}

Note

PDB files are not always perfect representations of the real molecular structures they are created from. Sometimes there are missing atoms, and sometimes there are missing residues. For this reason molecuPy draws a distinction between present and missing atoms, and present and missing residues. See the full API docs for more details.

Chains

A Chain object is an ordered sequence of Residue objects, and they are the macromolecular structures which constitute the bulk of the model.

>>> pdb.model().get_chain_by_id("A")
<Chain A (204 residues)>
>>> pdb.model().get_chain_by_id("A").chain_id()
'A'
>>> pdb.model().get_chain_by_id("A").residues()[0]
<Residue (VAL)>

Chains inherit from ResiduicStructure and ResiduicSequence and so have methods for retrieving residues:

>>> pdb.model().get_chain_by_id("A").get_residue_by_id("A23")
<Residue (ASN)>
>>> pdb.model().get_chain_by_id("A").get_residue_by_name("ASP")
<Residue (ASP)>
>>> pdb.model().get_chain_by_id("A").get_residues_by_name("ASN")
{<Residue A5 (ASN)>, <Residue A23 (ASN)>, <Residue A23A (ASN)>, <Residue A10
1(ASN)>, <Residue A141 (ASN)>, <Residue A199 (ASN)>}
>>> pdb.model().get_chain_by_id("A").sequence_string()
'VMNRLILAMDLMNRDDALRVTGEVREYIDTVKIGYPLVLSEGMDIIAEFRKRFGCRIIADFKVADIPETNEKICR
ATFKAGADAIIVHGFPGADSVRACLNVAEEMGREVFLLTEMSHPGAEMFIQGAADEIARMGVDLGVKNYVGPSTRP
ERLSRLREIIGQDSFLISPGGETLRFADAIIVGRSIYLADNPAAAAAGIIESI'

Like pretty much everything else in molecuPy, chains are ultimately atomic structures, and have the usual atomic structure methods for getting mass, retrieving atoms etc.

The Residue objects themselves are also atomic structures, and behave very similar to small molecules. They have downstream_residue and upstream_residue methods for getting the next and previous residue in their chain respectively.

Small Molecules

Many PDB files also contain non-macromolecular objects, such as ligands, and solvent molecules. In molecuPy, these are represented as SmallMolecule objects.

There’s not a great deal to be said about small molecules. They are atomic structures, so you can get their mass, get atoms by name/ID etc.

>>> pdb.model().get_small_molecule_by_name("BU2")
<SmallMolecule A500 (BU2)>
>>> pdb.model().get_small_molecule_by_name("XMP").atoms()
{<PdbAtom 3240 (C)>, <PdbAtom 3241 (N)>, <PdbAtom 3242 (N)>, <PdbAtom 3243 (
C)>, <PdbAtom 3244 (O)>, <PdbAtom 3245 (C)>, <PdbAtom 3246 (O)>, <PdbAtom 32
47 (C)>, <PdbAtom 3248 (N)>, <PdbAtom 3249 (C)>, <PdbAtom 3250 (C)>, <PdbAto
m 3251 (O)>, <PdbAtom 3252 (C)>, <Atom 3253 (O)>, <PdbAtom 3230 (P)>, <PdbAt
om 3231 (O)>, <PdbAtom 3232 (O)>, <PdbAtom 3233 (O)>, <PdbAtom 3234 (O)>, <P
dbAtom 3235 (C)>, <PdbAtom 3236 (C)>, <PdbAtom 3237 (O)>, <Atom 3238 (C)>, <
PdbAtom 3239 (N)>}
>>> pdb.model().get_small_molecule_by_name("XMP").get_atom_by_id(3252)
<PdbAtom 3252 (C)>

The BindSite binding site of the molecule, if there is one, can be determined in one of two ways. If the PDB file already defines the site, it can be found with:

>>> pdb.model().get_small_molecule_by_name("XMP").bind_site()
<BindSite AC3 (11 residues)>

If there isn’t one defined, you can try to predict it using atomic distances:

>>> pdb.model().get_small_molecule_by_name("XMP").predict_bind_site()
<BindSite CALC (5 residues)>

All atomic structures can do this, but it is perhaps most useful with small molecules.

Atoms

PDB structures - like everything else in the universe really - are ultimately collections of Atom - Atom - objects. They possess a few key properties from which much of everything else is created:

>>> pdb.model().get_atom_by_id(28)
<PdbAtom 28 (C)>
>>> pdb.model().get_atom_by_id(28).atom_id()
28
>>> pdb.model().get_atom_by_id(28).atom_name()
'CB'
>>> pdb.model().get_atom_by_id(28).element()
'C'
>>> pdb.model().get_atom_by_id(28).mass()
12.0107

molecuPy draws a distinction between generic atom objects, and PdbAtom objects, which have coordinates. These are the atoms listed in the PDB file as being observed in the experiment that produced it.

Why the distinction? PDB files also list missing atoms - atoms known to be present in the structure depicted but which were not observed in the data. For those the generic Atom class is used.

There are also missing residues, which are represented here as ordinary residues composed entirely of missing atoms. All residues have a is_missing method to make this clear.

The distance between any two PDB atoms can be calculated easily:

>>> atom1 = pdb.model().get_atom_by_id(23)
>>> atom2 = pdb.model().get_atom_by_id(28)
>>> atom1.distance_to(atom2)
7.931296047935668

Bonds will be assigned where possible - the bonds between atoms in standard residues are inferred from atom names, and PDB files contain annotations for other covalent bonds. These are assigned to the atoms as Bond objects.

>>> pdb.model().get_atom_by_id(27).bonds()
{<Bond between Atom 27 and Atom 101>, <Bond between Atom 100 and Atom 27>}

The atoms directly bonded to any atom can be obtained with bonded_atoms, and the set of all atoms that are accessible is accessed with accessible_atoms.

>>> pdb.model().get_atom_by_id(3201)
<PdbAtom 3200 (P)>
>>> pdb.model().get_atom_by_id(3201).bonded_atoms()
{<PdbAtom 3200 (P)>}
>>> pdb.model().get_atom_by_id(3200).bonded_atoms()
{<PdbAtom 3203 (O)>, <PdbAtom 3201 (O)>, <PdbAtom 3204 (O)>, <PdbAtom 3202 (
O)>}
>>> pdb.model().get_atom_by_id(3200).accessible_atoms()
{<PdbAtom 3214 (O)>, <PdbAtom 3215 (C)>, <PdbAtom 3216 (O)>, <PdbAtom 3217 (
C)>, <PdbAtom 3218 (N)>, <PdbAtom 3219 (C)>, <PdbAtom 3201 (O)>, <PdbAtom 32
20 (C)>, <PdbAtom 3202 (O)>, <PdbAtom 3221 (O)>, <PdbAtom 3203 (O)>, <PdbAto
m 3222 (C)>, <PdbAtom 3204 (O)>, <PdbAtom 3223 (O)>, <PdbAtom 3205 (C)>, <Pd
bAtom 3206 (C)>, <PdbAtom 3207 (O)>, <PdbAtom 3208 (C)>, <PdbAtom 3209 (N)>,
 <PdbAtom 3210 (C)>, <PdbAtom 3211 (N)>, <PdbAtom 3212 (N)>, <PdbAtom 3213 (
C)>}

Similarly, all atoms have a model method which refers back to their Model, and as long as this is the case, they can use their local_atoms method to return a set of all atoms within a given distance.

>>> pdb.model().get_atom_by_id(3201).local_atoms(5) # Atoms within 5A
{<PdbAtom 3214 (O)>, <PdbAtom 3215 (C)>, <PdbAtom 3216 (O)>, <PdbAtom 3217 (
C)>, <PdbAtom 3218 (N)>}

Binding Sites

BindSite objects represent binding sites. They are residuic structures, with the usual residuic structure methods, as well as a ligand property.

>>> pdb.model().sites()
{<BindSite AC2 (5 residues)>, <BindSite AC1 (4 residues)>, <BindSite AC4 (11
 residues)>, <BindSite AC3 (11 residues)>}
>>> pdb.model().get_site_by_id("AC1").residues()
{<Residue A10 (ASP)>, <Residue A11 (LEU)>, <Residue A34 (LYS)>}
>>> pdb.model().get_site_by_id("AC1").ligand()
<SmallMolecule A1000 (BU2)>

Secondary Structure

Chain objects have a alpha_helices property and a beta_strands property, which are sets of AlphaHelix objects and BetaStrand objects respectively.

Saving

Any model can be saved to file:

>>> model.save_as_pdb("filename.pdb")