gmx-helixorient - Calculate local pitch/bending/rotation/orientation inside helices
Contents
Copyright
2025, GROMACS development team
2025.0 Feb 10, 2025 GMX-HELIXORIENT(1)
Description
gmxhelixorient calculates the coordinates and direction of the average axis inside an alpha helix, and
the direction/vectors of both the Calpha and (optionally) a sidechain atom relative to the axis.
As input, you need to specify an index group with Calpha atoms corresponding to an alpha-helix of
continuous residues. Sidechain directions require a second index group of the same size, containing the
heavy atom in each residue that should represent the sidechain.
Note that this program does not do any fitting of structures.
We need four Calpha coordinates to define the local direction of the helix axis.
The tilt/rotation is calculated from Euler rotations, where we define the helix axis as the local x-axis,
the residues/Calpha vector as y, and the z-axis from their cross product. We use the Euler Y-Z-X
rotation, meaning we first tilt the helix axis (1) around and (2) orthogonal to the residues vector, and
finally apply the (3) rotation around it. For debugging or other purposes, we also write out the actual
Euler rotation angles as theta[1-3].xvgName
gmx-helixorient - Calculate local pitch/bending/rotation/orientation inside helices
Options
Options to specify input files:
-s[<.tpr>](topol.tpr)
Portable xdr run input file
-f[<.xtc/.trr/...>](traj.xtc)
Trajectory: xtctrrcptgrog96pdbtng-n[<.ndx>](index.ndx)(Optional)
Index file
Options to specify output files:
-oaxis[<.dat>](helixaxis.dat)
Generic data file
-ocenter[<.dat>](center.dat)
Generic data file
-orise[<.xvg>](rise.xvg)
xvgr/xmgr file
-oradius[<.xvg>](radius.xvg)
xvgr/xmgr file
-otwist[<.xvg>](twist.xvg)
xvgr/xmgr file
-obending[<.xvg>](bending.xvg)
xvgr/xmgr file
-otilt[<.xvg>](tilt.xvg)
xvgr/xmgr file
-orot[<.xvg>](rotation.xvg)
xvgr/xmgr file
Other options:
-b<time>(0)
Time of first frame to read from trajectory (default unit ps)
-e<time>(0)
Time of last frame to read from trajectory (default unit ps)
-dt<time>(0)
Only use frame when t MOD dt = first time (default unit ps)
-xvg<enum>(xmgrace)
xvg plot formatting: xmgrace, xmgr, none
-[no]sidechain(no)
Calculate sidechain directions relative to helix axis too.
-[no]incremental(no)
Calculate incremental rather than total rotation/tilt.
See Also
gmx(1) More information about GROMACS is available at <http://www.gromacs.org/>.
Synopsis
gmx helixorient [-s[<.tpr>]] [-f[<.xtc/.trr/...>]] [-n[<.ndx>]]
[-oaxis[<.dat>]] [-ocenter[<.dat>]] [-orise[<.xvg>]]
[-oradius[<.xvg>]] [-otwist[<.xvg>]]
[-obending[<.xvg>]] [-otilt[<.xvg>]] [-orot[<.xvg>]]
[-b<time>] [-e<time>] [-dt<time>] [-xvg<enum>]
[-[no]sidechain] [-[no]incremental]
