A pipeline that processes protein structures in ProteinDataBank (PDB) file format using ChimeraX and enables them to be analyzed on the VRNetzer platform.
The main purpose of this project is to serve as an easy-to-use pipeline to facilitate the processing of protein structures for presentation on the VRNetzer. It is mainly used in the ProteinStructureFetch Extension of the VRNetzer ecosystem. For everyone who wants to analyze their own protein structures, with your desired highlighting and coloring, this project is the right place to start. A ChimeraX installation is mandatory to use the full potential of this project. Without ChimeraX this software only provides a fetcher with which you can easily fetch PDB files from the AlphaFold Database as well as some converter functions.
- An installation of ChimeraX
Tested with Python 3.9+.
Install the package e.g. in a virtual environment:
-
create a virtual environment
python3 -m venv name_of_env -
activate it
source name_of_env/bin/activate -
install requirements packages
python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt -
under macos, you might have to install the following packages
brew install libomp
./main.py fetch <UniProtID
example:
./main.py fetch O95352
This will fetch the structure of O95352 from the AlphaFold database and
processes it using the pipeline. The secondary structures are colored red, green and blue.
./main.py fetch <list_separated_by_comma>
example:
./main.py fetch O95352,Q9Y5M8,Q9UKX5
This will fetch the structure of O95352, Q9Y5M8 and Q9UKX5 from the AlphaFold
database and processes them using the pipeline. The secondary structures are colored red, green and blue.
./main.py list <path_to_file>
example:
./main.py list proteins.txt
Works like the previous command, but the python list is read from a file.
./main.py local <path_to_directory>
example:
./main.py local /User/Documents/pdb_files
This will process all structures in this directory. If there are only PDB files
in this directory, for all of them the complete pipeline will be executed. It is also possible to
have a directory containing intermediate states like PLY files.
For these structures, the process will start at the corresponding step.
To get an overview of the available commands, use the --help command.
./main.py --help
./main.py [optional arguments] <command> (positional arguments)
usage: main.py [-h] [--pdb_file [PDB_DIRECTORY]] [--glb_file [GLB_DIRECTORY]] [--ply_file [PLY_DIRECTORY]]
[--cloud [PCD_DIRECTORY]] [--map [MAP_DIRECTORY]] [--alphafold_version [{v1,v2,v3,v4}]]
[--batch_size [BATCH_SIZE]] [--keep_pdb [{True,False}]] [--keep_glb [{True,False}]] [--keep_ply [{True,False}]]
[--keep_ascii [{True,False}]] [--chimerax [CHIMERAX_EXEC]] [--color_mode [COLOR_MODE]] [--img_size [IMG_SIZE]]
[--database [{alphafold,rcsb}]] [--thumbnails] [--with_gui] [--only_images] [--pcc_preview] [--overwrite]
[--log_level {CRITICAL,FATAL,ERROR,WARN,WARNING,INFO,DEBUG,NOTSET}] [--parallel] [--process_multi_fraction]
[--scan_for_multifractions]
{fetch,local,list,extract,bulk,combine,clear} ...
positional arguments:
{fetch,local,list,extract,bulk,combine,clear}
mode
fetch Fetch proteins from the Alphafold database.
local Process proteins from files (.pdb, .glb, .ply, .xyzrgb) in a directory.
list Process proteins from a file containing one UniProt ID in each line.
extract Extracts the protein structures from AlphaFold DB bulk download.
bulk Process proteins tar archive fetched as bulk download from AlphaFold DB
combine Combine multi fraction protein structures into a single glb file. with ChimeraX and the desired coloring
mode.
clear Removes the processing_files directory
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
--pdb_file [PDB_DIRECTORY], -pdb [PDB_DIRECTORY]
Defines, where to save the PDB Files.
--glb_file [GLB_DIRECTORY], -glb [GLB_DIRECTORY]
Defines, where to save the GLB Files.
--ply_file [PLY_DIRECTORY], -ply [PLY_DIRECTORY]
Defines, where to save the PLY Files.
--cloud [PCD_DIRECTORY], -pcd [PCD_DIRECTORY]
Defines, where to save the ASCII point clouds.
--map [MAP_DIRECTORY], -m [MAP_DIRECTORY]
Defines, where to save the color maps.
--alphafold_version [{v1,v2,v3,v4}], -av [{v1,v2,v3,v4}]
Defines, which version of AlphaFold to use.
--batch_size [BATCH_SIZE], -bs [BATCH_SIZE]
Defines the size of the batch which will be processed
--keep_pdb [{True,False}], -kpdb [{True,False}]
Define whether to still keep the PDB files after the GLB file is created. Default is True.
--keep_glb [{True,False}], -kglb [{True,False}]
Define whether to still keep the GLB files after the PLY file is created. Default is False.
--keep_ply [{True,False}], -kply [{True,False}]
Define whether to still keep the PLY files after the ASCII file is created. Default is False.
--keep_ascii [{True,False}], -kasc [{True,False}]
Define whether to still keep the ASCII Point CLoud files after the color maps are generated. Default is
False.
--chimerax [CHIMERAX_EXEC], -ch [CHIMERAX_EXEC]
Defines, where to find the ChimeraX executable.
--color_mode [COLOR_MODE], -cm [COLOR_MODE]
Defines the coloring mode which will be used to color the structure. Choices: cartoons_ss_coloring,
cartoons_rainbow_coloring, cartoons_heteroatom_coloring, cartoons_polymer_coloring,
cartoons_chain_coloring... . For a full list, see README.
--img_size [IMG_SIZE], -imgs [IMG_SIZE]
Defines the size of the output images.
--database [{alphafold,rcsb}], -db [{alphafold,rcsb}]
Defines the database from which the proteins will be fetched.
--thumbnails, -thumb Defines whether to create thumbnails of the structures.
--with_gui, -gui Turn on the gui mode of the ChimeraX processing. This has no effect on Windows systems as the GUI will
always be turned on.
--only_images, -oi Only take images of the processed structures.
--pcc_preview, -pcc Presents the point clound color map in a preview window.
--overwrite, -ow Overwrites existing files.
--log_level {CRITICAL,FATAL,ERROR,WARN,WARNING,INFO,DEBUG,NOTSET}, -ll {CRITICAL,FATAL,ERROR,WARN,WARNING,INFO,DEBUG,NOTSET}
--parallel, -p Defines whether to use parallel processing.
--process_multi_fraction, -pmf
Defines whether to also process multi fraction structures.
--scan_for_multifractions, -sfm
Defines whether to scan for multi fraction structures.
All structures fetched directly from the AlphaFold DB consist of only a single fraction with a maximum length of 2700 amino acids. Structures larger than 2700 amino acids are separated in multiple fractions (F1 - Fn). One can use the bulk downloads options offered by AlphaFold DB to download all structures of an organism including structures that are split into multiple fractions.
It is possible to process the structures directly from these archives by using the bulk command:
./main.py bulk <path_to_archive>
Alternatively, with the extract command, the structures can be extracted from the archive and saved in a directory. The structures can then be processed with the local command:
In both cases, all PDB files contained in the archives are extracted to the default pdbs directory.
From there, also the local command can be used to process the structures:
./main.py local <path_to_pdbs_dircetory>
This process requires caution as it may take a long time to complete, consume a significant amount of memory, and use extensive local storage. In extreme cases, the program may shut down, particularly when dealing with larger structures containing more than 50 fractions or complex processing modes such as
surface_electrostatic_coloring.
cartoons_ss_coloring
cartoons_rainbow_coloring
cartoons_heteroatom_coloring
cartoons_polymer_coloring
cartoons_chain_coloring
cartoons_bFactor_coloring
cartoons_nucleotide_coloring
surface_ss_cooloring
surface_rainbow_cooloring
surface_heteroatom_cooloring
surface_polymer_cooloring
surface_chain_cooloring
surface_electrostatic_coloring
surface_hydrophic_coloring
surface_bFactor_coloring
surface_nucleotide_coloring
stick_ss_coloring
stick_rainbow_coloring
stick_heteroatom_coloring
stick_polymer_coloring
stick_chain_coloring
stick_bFactor_coloring
stick_nucleotide_coloring
ball_ss_coloring
ball_rainbow_coloring
ball_heteroatom_coloring
ball_polymer_coloring
ball_chain_coloring
ball_bFactor_coloring
ball_nucleotide_coloring
sphere_ss_coloring
sphere_rainbow_coloring
sphere_heteroatom_coloring
sphere_polymer_coloring
sphere_chain_coloring
sphere_bFactor_coloring
sphere_nucleotide_coloring
We have preprocessed the human proteome and made it available for download. The archive contains two coloring modes of all human proteins:
cartoons_ss_coloring(loop regions red, helices green, β-sheets blue)surface_electrostatic_coloring(red negative, white neutral, blue positive electrostatic potential)
The archive can be downloaded at: