Fiber models in 3DNA make it easy to build regular DNA helices

3DNA contains 55 fiber models compiled from literature. To the best of my knowledge, this is the most comprehensive collection of its kind (detailed list given below), including:

1. Chandrasekaran & Arnott (from #1 to #43) — the most well-known set of fiber models
2. Alexeev et al. (#44-#45)
3. van Dam & Levitt (#46-#47)
4. Premilat & Albiser (#48-#55)

The utility program fiber puts the generation of all these fiber models in a simple, consistent interface, and can generate structures in either standard PDB or PDBML format. Of those models, some can be built with an arbitrary sequence of A, C, G and T (e.g., A-/B-/C-DNA from calf thymus), while others are of fixed sequences (e.g., Z-DNA with GC repeats). The sequence can be specified either from command-line or a plain text file.

Once 3DNA in properly installed, the command-line interface is the most versatile and convenient way to generate, e.g., a regular double strand DNA (mostly, B-DNA) of arbitrary sequence. Moreover, the w3DNA and 3DART web-interfaces to 3DNA make it easy to generate a regular DNA model, especially for occasional use or educational purposes.

Theoretically, there is nothing to worth showing off in 3DNA's fiber model generation functionality. However, it serves as a clear example of the differences between a "proof of concept" and a practical software application. I initially decided to work on this issue simply for my own convenience. At that time, I had access to A-DNA and B-DNA fiber model generators, each as a separate program. Moreover, the constructed models did not comply to the PDB format in atom naming and other subtitles.

I started with the Chandrasekaran & Arnott fiber models which I had a copy of data files. Nevertheless, there are many details to work out, typos to correct, etc to put them in a consistent framework. For other models, I read each original publication, and typed into computer raw atomic cylindrical coordinates for each model. Again, quite a few inconsistencies popped up between the different publications with a time span over decades.

Overall, it was a quite tedious undertaking, requiring great attention to details. I am glad that I did that: I learned so much from the process, and more importantly, others can benefit from my effort. As I put in the 3DNA Nature Protocol paper (BOX 6 | FIBER-DIFFRACTION MODELS),

In preparing this set of fiber models, we have taken great care to ensure the accuracy and consistency of the models. For completeness and user verification, 3DNA includes, in addition to 3DNA-processed files, the original coordinates collected from the literature.

For those who want to understand what's going on under the hood, there is no better way than to try to reproduce the process using, e.g., fiber B-DNA as an example.

From the very beginning, I had expected the fiber functionality to be easily reachable and thus beneficial to all those who are interested in nucleic acid structures, especially to build a regular DNA duplex of chosen sequence. In my sense, the fiber program has not been widely used as it should have been, probably due to the fact that many people are not aware of its existence or capability. Hopefully, this blog post would help to get my message across.

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PS. Given below is the content of the README file for fiber models in 3DNA

1. The repeating units of each fiber structure are mostly based on the
   work of Chandrasekaran & Arnott (from #1 to #43). More recent fiber
   models are based on Alexeev et al. (#44-#45), van Dam & Levitt (#46
   -#47) and Premilat & Albiser (#48-#55).

2. Clean up of each residue
   a. currently ignore hydrogen atoms [can be easily added]
   b. change ME/C7 group of thymine to C5M
   c. re-assign O3' atom to be attached with C3'
   d. change distance unit from nm to A [most of the entries]
   e. re-ordering atoms according to the NDB convention

3. Fix up of problem structures.
   a. str#8 has no N9 atom for guanine
   b. str#10 is not available from the disk, manually input
   c. str#14 C5M atom was named C5 for Thymine, resulting two C5 atoms
   d. str#17 has wrong assignment of O3' atom on Guanine
   e. str#33 has wrong C6 position in U3
   f. str#37 to #str41 were typed in manually following Arnott's
        new list as given in "Oxford Handbook of Nucleic Acid Structure"
        edited by S. Neidle (Oxford Press, 1999)
   g. str#38 coordinates for N6(A) and N3(T) are WRONG as given in the
        original literature
   h. str#39 and #40 have the same O3' coordinates for the 2nd strand

4. str#44 & 45 have fixed strand II residues (T)

5. str#46 & 47 have +z-axis upwards (based on BI.pdb & BII.pdb)

6. str#48 to 55 have +z-axis upwards

List of 55 fiber structures

id#  Twist   Rise        Structure description
    (dgrees)  (A)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1   32.7   2.548  A-DNA  (calf thymus; generic sequence: A, C, G and T)
 2   65.5   5.095  A-DNA  poly d(ABr5U) : poly d(ABr5U)
 3    0.0  28.030  A-DNA  (calf thymus) poly d(A1T2C3G4G5A6A7T8G9G10T11) :
                                        poly d(A1C2C3A4T5T6C7C8G9A10T11)
 4   36.0   3.375  B-DNA  (calf thymus; generic sequence: A, C, G and T)
 5   72.0   6.720  B-DNA  poly d(CG) : poly d(CG)
 6  180.0  16.864  B-DNA  (calf thymus) poly d(C1C2C3C4C5) : poly d(G6G7G8G9G10)
 7   38.6   3.310  C-DNA  (calf thymus; generic sequence: A, C, G and T)
 8   40.0   3.312  C-DNA  poly d(GGT) : poly d(ACC)
 9  120.0   9.937  C-DNA  poly d(G1G2T3) : poly d(A4C5C6)
10   80.0   6.467  C-DNA  poly d(AG) : poly d(CT)
11   80.0   6.467  C-DNA  poly d(A1G2) : poly d(C3T4)
12   45.0   3.013  D-DNA  poly d(AAT) : poly d(ATT)
13   90.0   6.125  D-DNA  poly d(CI) : poly d(CI)
14  -90.0  18.500  D-DNA  poly d(A1T2A3T4A5T6) : poly d(A1T2A3T4A5T6)
15  -60.0   7.250  Z-DNA  poly d(GC) : poly d(GC)
16  -51.4   7.571  Z-DNA  poly d(As4T) : poly d(As4T)
17    0.0  10.200  L-DNA  (calf thymus) poly d(GC) : poly d(GC)
18   36.0   3.230  B'-DNA alpha poly d(A) : poly d(T) (H-DNA)
19   36.0   3.233  B'-DNA beta2 poly d(A) : poly d(T) (H-DNA  beta)
20   32.7   2.812  A-RNA  poly (A) : poly (U)
21   30.0   3.000  A'-RNA poly (I) : poly (C)
22   32.7   2.560  Hybrid poly (A) : poly d(T)
23   32.0   2.780  Hybrid poly d(G) : poly (C)
24   36.0   3.130  Hybrid poly d(I) : poly (C)
25   32.7   3.060  Hybrid poly d(A) : poly (U)
26   36.0   3.010  10-fold poly (X) : poly (X)
27   32.7   2.518  11-fold poly (X) : poly (X)
28   32.7   2.596  Poly (s2U) : poly (s2U) (symmetric base-pair)
29   32.7   2.596  Poly (s2U) : poly (s2U) (asymmetric base-pair)
30   32.7   3.160  Poly d(C) : poly d(I) : poly d(C)
31   30.0   3.260  Poly d(T) : poly d(A) : poly d(T)
32   32.7   3.040  Poly (U) : poly (A) : poly(U) (11-fold)
33   30.0   3.040  Poly (U) : poly (A) : poly(U) (12-fold)
34   30.0   3.290  Poly (I) : poly (A) : poly(I)
35   31.3   3.410  Poly (I) : poly (I) : poly(I) : poly(I)
36   60.0   3.155  Poly (C) or poly (mC) or poly (eC)
37   36.0   3.200  B'-DNA beta2  Poly d(A) : poly d(U)
38   36.0   3.240  B'-DNA beta1  Poly d(A) : poly d(T)
39   72.0   6.480  B'-DNA beta2  Poly d(AI) : poly d(CT)
40   72.0   6.460  B'-DNA beta1  Poly d(AI) : poly d(CT)
41  144.0  13.540  B'-DNA  Poly d(AATT) : poly d(AATT)
42   32.7   3.040  Poly(U) : poly d(A) : poly(U) [cf. #32]
43   36.0   3.200  Beta Poly d(A) : Poly d(U) [cf. #37]
44   36.0   3.233  Poly d(A) : poly d(T) (Ca salt)
45   36.0   3.233  Poly d(A) : poly d(T) (Na salt)
46   36.0   3.38   B-DNA (BI-type nucleotides; generic sequence: A, C, G and T)
47   40.0   3.32   C-DNA (BII-type nucleotides; generic sequence: A, C, G and T)
48   87.8   6.02   D(A)-DNA  ploy d(AT) : ploy d(AT) (right-handed)
49   60.0   7.20   S-DNA  ploy d(CG) : poly d(CG) (C_BG_A, right-handed)
50   60.0   7.20   S-DNA  ploy d(GC) : poly d(GC) (C_AG_B, right-handed)
51   31.6   3.22   B*-DNA  poly d(A) : poly d(T)
52   90.0   6.06   D(B)-DNA  poly d(AT) : poly d(AT) [cf. #48]
53  -38.7   3.29   C-DNA (generic sequence: A, C, G and T) (depreciated)
54   32.73  2.56   A-DNA (generic sequence: A, C, G and T) [cf. #1]
55   36.0   3.39   B-DNA (generic sequence: A, C, G and T) [cf. #4]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
List 1-41 based on Struther Arnott: ``Polynucleotide secondary structures:
     an historical perspective'', pp. 1-38 in ``Oxford Handbook of Nucleic
     Acid Structure'' edited by Stephen Neidle (Oxford Press, 1999).
     
     #42 and #43 are from Chandrasekaran & Arnott: "The Structures of DNA
     and RNA Helices in Oriented Fibers", pp 31-170 in "Landolt-Bornstein
     Numerical Data and Functional Relationships in Science and Technology"
     edited by W. Saenger (Springer-Verlag, 1990).

#44-#45 based on Alexeev et al., ``The structure of poly(dA) . poly(dT)
     as revealed by an X-ray fiber diffraction''. J. Biomol. Str. Dyn, 4,
     pp. 989-1011, 1987.

#46-#47 based on van Dam & Levitt, ``BII nucleotides in the B and C forms
     of natural-sequence polymeric DNA: a new model for the C form of DNA''.
     J. Mol. Biol., 304, pp. 541-561, 2000.

#48-#55 based on Premilat & Albiser, ``A new D-DNA form of poly(dA-dT) .
     poly(dA-dT): an A-DNA type structure with reversed Hoogsteen Pairing''.
     Eur. Biophys. J., 30, pp. 404-410, 2001 (and several other publications).