Recent Posts

21

RNA structures (DSSR) / Question about axis tilt after reconstruction of B-DNA using x3dna-dssr

« Last post by GengshiWu on July 31, 2025, 10:46:10 pm »

Hi Xiang-Jun, I have been working with the 3DNA DSSR tools to generate a B-DNA helix and encountered an unexpected issue with the axis alignment after reconstruction. Here are the steps that I performed:

1. Generated a 36 bp B-DNA helix using: x3dna-dssr fiber --model=B-DNA --seq=A36 -o=dssr-B-DNA-A36.pdb
    -When I open the dssr-B-DNA-A36.pdb file that I generated in UCSF Chimera, the helix axis aligns perfectly with the 3D coordinate z-axis.

2. Extracted parameters using: x3dna-dssr analyze --rebuild -i=dssr-B-DNA-A36.pdb -o=dssr-B-DNA-A36-expt.out
    -Then, I renamed the extracted step and helical parameter files for clarity: mv dssr-dsStepPars.txt dssr-B-DNA-A36-step.txt  mv dssr-dsHeliPars.txt dssr-B-DNA-A36-heli.txt

3. Reconstructed the structure using the step parameter file with: x3dna-dssr rebuild --backbone=B-DNA --par-file=dssr-B-DNA-A36-step.txt -o=dssr-B-DNA-A36-rb10.5.pdb
    - However, when I open the reconstructed pdb file in Chimera, the helix axis is slightly tilted relative to the z-axis.

Could you please advise whether this tilt is expected due to reconstruction? Or is there a recommended way to maintain the original axis alignment during rebuilding?

Thanks!

22

General discussions (Q&As) / Re: Download error for 3DNA v2.4.8-2023nov10 C Source Code

« Last post by nirtonik on July 27, 2025, 08:35:44 pm »

It is working, thank you so much!

23

General discussions (Q&As) / Re: Download error for 3DNA v2.4.8-2023nov10 C Source Code

« Last post by xiangjun on July 27, 2025, 04:48:46 pm »

Hi Arman Alborzi,

Thank you for reporting this issue, which has now been resolved. I am currently in the process of updating and reorganizing resources on our servers, which may cause temporary disruptions. Please try again and let me know if the problem persists.

Best regards,

Xiang-Jun

24

General discussions (Q&As) / Download error for 3DNA v2.4.8-2023nov10 C Source Code

« Last post by nirtonik on July 27, 2025, 03:34:26 pm »

Hello Dr. Xiang‑Jun Lu and 3DNA community,

I’m using DSSR v2.5.4 on PDB 1EHZ and need to reproduce DSSR’s base‑reference frames in my own Python code. To do this, I require the classic X3DNA v2.4 “atomic.base” template file (found in config/atomic.base of the full C‑source distribution) so I can align the standard guanine (2MG) template to my observed atom coordinates.

On the download page I see the entries:

  3DNA v2.4.8‑2023nov10; the classic X3DNA suite… 
  • Linux 64‑bit (including C source code) 
  • macOS M2 (including C source code) 
  • C source code 

-but every link appears broken (“cannot reach this page”) and I cannot download the archive.
Without config/atomic.base I cannot extract the G/2MG template coordinates needed
Could someone please:

1. Provide a working download link for the X3DNA v2.4 C‑source package,

Thank you very much for your help!

- Arman Alborzi 

25

General discussions (Q&As) / Re: Rebuild B-DNA

« Last post by xiangjun on July 25, 2025, 11:33:04 am »

The thymine base in DNA features a methyl group at the C5 position, previously designated as C5M. The updated convention now refers to this as C7. DSSR v2.6.0, available on the CTV download page, has renamed the thymine methyl group at the C5 position from C5M to C7. This revision ensures that DSSR's atomic model rebuilding aligns with the current nomenclature.

The make this response complete, here are the DSSR commands for generating the B-DNA model based on PDB entry 1hlo:

Code: Bash

1. # Verify DSSR version
2. x3dna-dssr -v
3.       # v2.6.0-2025jul24
4.  
5. # PDB file 1hlo.pdb is downloaded from RCSB PDB
6. x3dna-dssr analyze --input=1hlo.pdb --rebuild-parameters
7.  
8. # The above command generates file dssr-dsStepPars.txt
9. x3dna-dssr rebuild --backbone=B-DNA --par-file=dssr-dsStepPars.txt --o=new2.pdb

Attachments:

• dssr-dsStepPars.txt
• new2.pdb

26

Bug reports / Re: When analyzing multiple frames with --nmr, DSSR gets slower with each frame

« Last post by xiangjun on July 23, 2025, 11:29:24 pm »

I have updated DSSR Academic to version 2.6.0, which significantly speeds up the analysis of multiple frames of MD trajectories. The default settings will no longer experience slowdowns with later frames. The runtime should now scale linearly with the number of frames, as expected.

The new DSSR Academic v2.6.0 will shortly be available on the CTV download page, expected to be released within the next few days.

Note added on 2025-07-25: DSSR v2.6.0 is now available on CTV download page

27

DNA/RNA-protein interactions (SNAP) / Re: Implement Json

« Last post by xiangjun on July 23, 2025, 11:12:13 pm »

As a follow up of the previous response, I would like to let the community know that as of DSSR Academic v2.6.0, the `--json` option is available for the SNAP subcommand. The new DSSR Academic v2.6.0 should be available in the CTV download page soon (in the next few days).

Note added on 2025-07-25: DSSR v2.6.0 is now available on CTV download page

28

General discussions (Q&As) / Re: Rebuild B-DNA

« Last post by xiangjun on July 06, 2025, 10:41:34 am »

Thanks for your feedback.

I've revised DSSR to replace C5M with C7 for thymine in A- and B-DNA. See the attached `new2.pdb` file.

As a side note, you could use the following command with the DSSR version you currently have installed:

Code: [Select]

x3dna-dssr mutate -i=new.pdb --entry='name=T to=T' -o=newx.pdb
Basically, it mutats T to T using the `mutate` subcommand. The net effect is C5M being replaced with C7 (see attached).

Best regards,

Xiang-Jun

29

General discussions (Q&As) / Re: Rebuild B-DNA

« Last post by Xuan Liu on July 06, 2025, 03:14:38 am »

Thank you very much for your reply!

30

General discussions (Q&As) / Re: Rebuild B-DNA

« Last post by xiangjun on July 05, 2025, 11:14:02 pm »

Hi,

Thanks for using DSSR and for posting your question on the Forum. The two DSSR commands you used help illuminate the question well, and the snippets from your `new.pdb` file clearly show the issue.

However, I noticed that in the rebuilt DNA structure (new.pdb), all thymine bases appear to be methylated—specifically, the C5M atom shows up in the output. There is no methylation in my initial input file(1hlo.pdb)

The thymine base in DNA has a methyl group at the C5 position, which is named differently across various versions of the PDB
format. Historically, it was referred to as C5M, but in more recent versions (e.g., in `1hlo`), it is labeled as C7. For further
details, please refer to my blog post titled "Different names for the methyl group in DNA and RNA structures" at
https://x3dna.org/articles/different-names-for-the-methyl-group-in-dna-and-rna-structures

The presence of `C5M` in your `new.pdb` is because the building block in DSSR currently uses `C5M` to denote the methyl group on thymine instead of `C7`. Since you raised this point, I am considering updating DSSR to use `C7` for thymine in future versions. In the meantime, you can simply replace `C5M` with `C7` in your `new.pdb` file.

Best regads,

Xiang-Jun