Author: Kalli Kappel (kappel at stanford dot edu)
Last updated: April 2018
The Rosetta-Vienna ΔΔG method is used to calculate relative binding affinities for RNA-protein complexes.
All code is located in src/apps/public/rnp_ddg/. A demo of the Rosetta-Vienna ΔΔG method is available in demos/public/rnp_ddg/. Rosetta-Vienna ΔΔG is also available as a ROSIE webserver.
1.1 Make sure that you have python (v2.7) installed.
1.2 Install Rosetta RNA tools. See instructions and documentation here.
1.3 Install the ViennaRNA package. See instructions here.
2.1 Set up the relaxation run with relax_starting_structure.py. For example, type:
python PATH_TO_ROSETTA/main/source/src/apps/public/rnp_ddg/relax_starting_structure.py --start_struct start_structure.pdb --nstructs 100 --rosetta_prefix PATH_TO_ROSETTA/main/source/bin/Inputs and options for relax_starting_structure.py are listed below:
--start_struct: The starting PDB structure of your RNA-protein complex.
--rosetta_prefix: The full path to your Rosetta executables (this is optional if the executables are in your PATH).
--sfxn: The score function to use for relaxation. This must be the same score function that will be used to calculate relative binding affinities in Step 3! Recommended: rnp_ddg.wts.
--nstructs: Number of times to perform the relaxation. Recommended: 100.
2.2 Run the relaxation. For example, type:
source ALL_RELAX_COMMANDSAlternatively, each of the relaxation commands found in RELAX_COMMAND_* can be run separately. This is useful if you’re running on a cluster.
2.3 Get the lowest scoring relaxed structures. For example, type:
python PATH_TO_ROSETTA/main/source/src/apps/public/rnp_ddg/get_lowest_scoring_relaxed_models.py --relax_dir relax_start_structure/This will print out the 20 lowest scoring relaxed structures. For best results, the calculations described in Step 3 should be performed on each one of these structures, and the final ΔΔG results should be averaged over all 20.
3.1 Set up the ΔΔG calculations with general_RNP_setup_script.py. This step creates all the necessary directories and files for the ΔΔG calculation runs. For example type:
python PATH_TO_ROSETTA/main/source/src/apps/public/rnp_ddg/general_RNP_setup_script.py --low_res --tag demo_run --start_struct relax_start_structure//1/min_again_start_structure_wildtype_bound.pdb --seq_file mutant_list.txt --rosetta_prefix PATH_TO_ROSETTA/main/source/bin/Inputs and options for general_RNP_setup_script.py are listed below:
--low_res: (default) Use the low-res method of calculating RNA-protein relative binding affinities. This is recommended. Should not be specified with --med_res or --high_res.
--med_res: Use rna_denovo to build mutant structures when they introduce a non-canonical RNA base pair (i.e. if the WT structure contains a G-C base pair and you specify a mutation to G-G). The low_res protocol will be used for all other mutations.
--high_res: Use stepwise to build mutant structures. This protocol is much more computationally intensive, and has not yet yielded better results. This protocol is NOT recommended.
--skip_RNAfold: Do not do the Vienna RNAfold calculations (i.e. assume the folding free energy of all RNA sequences is 0). This is not recommended.
--tag: Here you can specify a string that will be used to create the name of the output directory.
--overwrite: Overwrite the ddG directory if it already exists. If this option is not specified, the directory will not be overwritten (instead a directory ending with e.g. _1 will be created).
--start_struct: The starting structure. This should be one of the lowest scoring relaxed structures from Step 2.
--wt_secstruct: The secondary structure of the RNA in the starting structure. This is only used in the med_res protocol (to determine when we’re mutating from a canonical to a non-canonical RNA base pair). If it is not specified, the secondary structure will be predicted with RNAfold.
--seq_file: This is a text file specifying the sequences for which we want to calculate relative binding affinities. One sequence should be specified per line. These can either be the full sequence of the complex (RNA and protein), or just the RNA sequence. If the protein sequence is not specified, then no mutations to the protein will be made.
--sfxn: The Rosetta score function to use. Recommended (default): rnp_ddg.wts. This should be the same score function that you used during relaxation in Step 2!
--rosetta_prefix: The full path to your Rosetta executables (this is optional if the executables are in your PATH).
--relax_cutoff_dist: Relax cutoff distance (from a mutation) for sidechain repacking. Recommended (default): 20.0
--protein_pack_reps: The number of times the "unbound" protein structure should be repacked, to calculate the energy of the unbound protein. Recommended (default): 10
--Nreps: The number of times the mutation and subsequent relaxation of surrounding residues should be performed. Recommended (default): 10
--no_min_jumps: Do not minimize the rigid body orientations. Not recommended.
--move_backbone: Move the backbone during minimization. Not recommended.
--move_protein_backbone: Move the protein backbone during minimization. Not recommended.
This setup command will create a directory named e.g. ddG_demo_run_low-res. In this directory, there is a numbered subdirectory corresponding to each of the mutant sequences that were specified in the mutant_list.txt file. 0/ corresponds to the wildtype, 1/ corresponds to the first sequence listed in mutant_list.txt, 2/ corresponds to the second sequence listed in mutant_list.txt, etc.
ddG_demo_run_low/general_setup_settings.txt lists the options that will be used for the run. ddG_demo_run_low/ALL_COMMANDS contains the actual command lines to run all of the ΔΔG calculations. ddG_demo_run_low/COMMAND_0, ddG_demo_run_low/COMMAND_1, and ddG_demo_run_low/COMMAND_2 contain the commands to run the ΔΔG calculations for the wildtype, first, and second mutations, respectively. All of these commands are contained within ddG_demo_run_low/ALL_COMMANDS; these individual files are just useful if you're running a lot of mutants on a cluster -- each command can be run simultaneously on a different core.
3.2 Run the ΔΔG calculations. For example, type:
source ddG_demo_run_low-res/ALL_COMMANDSAlternatively, each of the commands found in ddG_demo_run_low-res/COMMAND_* can be run separately. This is useful if you’re running on a cluster.
3.3 Get the ΔΔG results with get_final_ddG_scores.py. For example, type:
python PATH_TO_ROSETTA/main/source/src/apps/public/rnp_ddg/get_final_ddG_scores.py --run_dir ddG_demo_run_low-res/ --seq_file mutant_list.txt--run_dir should specify the directory that the ΔΔG calculations were run in (the one that was created by general_RNP_setup_script.py). --seq_file should list the same seq_file that was provided to general_RNP_setup_script.py.
This will print a message like the following to the screen:
####################################
RESULTS:
WT ddG: 0.00 kcal/mol
ugaggcucaccca ddG: 2.39 kcal/mol
ugaggagcaccca ddG: 0.62 kcal/mol
####################################
Results are also written to the ddG_score.txt files in
each mutant directory in ddG_demo_run_low-res/
The format is:
ddG dG complex_score protein_score rna_score
####################################As noted in this message, the ΔΔG results are also listed in the ddG_score.txt files in each of the run directories. The first column in a ddG_score.txt specifies the calculated ΔΔG value in kcal/mol.
Normally, Step 3 should be repeated 20 times for the top 20 structures from Step 2, and then the final results should be averaged.