<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;">Hello everyone,<br><br>I'm a fairly new GROMACS user. I'm running GROMACS 4.0.5 on top of Ubuntu Linux 9.10. I am still learning a lot.<br> <br>I just tried to set up my first fairly complex simulation, and it failed. I have a protein of interest, a beta barrel with a hydrophobic, ligand-binding interior. I am interested in making mutations to this protein, with the goal of getting it to bind to a rather different ligand than the one it normally binds.<br> <br>The way that I propose to go about studying this problem is to construct a partially-unfolded version of the protein structure, add my ligand of interest, and then run an energy minimization.<br> <br>My first naive attempt to construct the partially-unfolded protein was not successful. I knew that it might have problems, but I tried it anyway. Using
Biopython, I rotated the atomic coordinates so that the beta barrel was parallel to an axis. Then I simply pulled all of the atoms 3 Angstroms away from the axis. Finally, I inserted my ligand. Visually, inspecting the starting structure with PyMol, I didn't see anything egregious. However, I could have some unwanted close contacts.<br><br>I got a few "long bond" warnings from pdb2gmx, but I persisted. I got through genbox, editconf, and my first grompp sucessfully. But then when I tried the first, position-restrained energy minimization, it aborted with too many LINCS warnings. I blew the system up.<br><br>These LINCS warnings could come from close contacts, or from large forces in over-stretched bonds which resulted from my crude approach to expanding the protein structure. Whatever the cause, I need a smarter way to start. I am open to ANY suggestions!<br> <br>What I THINK I might want to do is to
manipulate the starting structure in a more natural way. For example, selecting some peptide bonds in the beta turns, and changing their angles. A program which allows me to manipulate structures, and not just simulate natural forces, is what I think I need. <br> <br>Surely, people who have used GROMACS will have faced problems simliar to mine. Thanks for your advice!<br> <br>John Ladasky<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold; color: black;"></span><font style="font-weight: bold; color: black;" face="Tahoma" size="1" color="silver"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></font><span style="font-weight: bold; color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></span></td></tr></table><br>