RDC
This is part of the isdb module

Calculates the (Residual) Dipolar Coupling between two atoms.

The Dipolar Coupling between two nuclei depends on the \(\theta\) angle between the inter-nuclear vector and the external magnetic field.

\[ D=D_{max}0.5(3\cos^2(\theta)-1) \]

where

\[ D_{max}=-\mu_0\gamma_1\gamma_2h/(8\pi^3r^3) \]

that is the maximal value of the dipolar coupling for the two nuclear spins with gyromagnetic ratio \(\gamma\). \(\mu\) is the magnetic constant and h is the Planck constant.

Common Gyromagnetic Ratios (C.G.S)

  • H(1) 26.7513
  • C(13) 6.7261
  • N(15) -2.7116 and their products (this is what is given in input using the keyword GYROM)
  • N-H -72.5388
  • C-H 179.9319
  • C-N -18.2385
  • C-C 45.2404

In isotropic media DCs average to zero because of the rotational averaging, but when the rotational symmetry is broken, either through the introduction of an alignment medium or for molecules with highly anisotropic paramagnetic susceptibility, then the average of the DCs is not zero and it is possible to measure a Residual Dipolar Coupling (RDCs).

This collective variable calculates the Dipolar Coupling for a set of couple of atoms using the above definition.

In a standard MD simulation the average over time of the DC should then be zero. If one wants to model the meaning of a set of measured RDCs it is possible to try to solve the following problem: "what is the distribution of structures and orientations that reproduce the measured RDCs".

This collective variable can then be use to break the rotational symmetry of a simulation by imposing that the average of the DCs over the conformational ensemble must be equal to the measured RDCs [26] . Since measured RDCs are also a function of the fraction of aligned molecules in the sample it is better to compare them modulo a constant or looking at the correlation.

Alternatively if the molecule is rigid it is possible to use the experimental data to calculate the alignment tensor and the use that to back calculate the RDCs, this is what is usually call the Single Value Decomposition approach. In this case the code rely on the a set of function from the GNU Scientific Library (GSL). (With SVD forces are not currently implemented).

Replica-Averaged simulations can be performed using RDCs, ENSEMBLE, STATS and RESTRAINT . METAINFERENCE can be activated using DOSCORE and the other relevant keywords.

Additional material and examples can be also found in the tutorial isdb-1

Examples
In the following example five N-H RDCs are defined and averaged over multiple replicas, their correlation is then calculated with respect to a set of experimental data and restrained. In addition, and only for analysis purposes, the same RDCs each single conformation are calculated using a Single Value Decomposition algorithm, then averaged and again compared with the experimental data.
Click on the labels of the actions for more information on what each action computes
tested on master