Hi Sima,
Note that the command:
fiber -pauling insideout.pdb
Will generate a "Pauling" DNA triple helix, that is, one where the inside is out, so to say. That is, the phosphate groups are in the inside and the nitrogenated bases are in the outside, unlike the common in nature DNA Triple Helix. This is why
find_pair cannot manage to find any base-pairs, because in a Pauling-Corey triple helix, there are no bases pairing to each other.
You probably want a "normal" DNA Triple Helix. You can generate it with:
fiber -31 dnatriplex.pdb
See the attached images at the end of the post.
Note also that there are parallel and antiparallel DNA triple helices. 3DNA generates a fiber model of a parallel triple helix with the
fiber -31 command.
An old classic DNA-Triplex review is the one by Frank-Kamenetskii and Mirkin, I suggest getting a hold of it and reading it. Even though old, it's an excellent review of pretty much all possible DNA-Triplexes one might find in biological systems.
Frank-Kamenetskii,M.D. and Mirkin,S.M. (1995) Triplex DNA structures. Annu. Rev. Biochem., 64, 65–95.
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.bi.64.070195.000433Also, I suggest our own article on the DNA antiparallel triplex:
Nucleic Acids Research, 2014, Vol. 42, No. 18 11329–11338
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gku848Triple helical DNA in a duplex context and base pair opening
Mauricio Esguerra, Lennart Nilsson and Alessandra Villa*
Good luck with your research into DNA triple helices!
P.S. I've also attached the pdb files I've generated with 3DNA's fiber and which I used for rendering with pymol.