AW: [gmx-users] question about the minimization

Justin Lemkul jalemkul at vt.edu
Thu Oct 18 15:01:20 CEST 2012



On 10/18/12 8:51 AM, reisingere at rostlab.informatik.tu-muenchen.de wrote:
> Hi Justin,
>
> Well I already tried the protein without the membrane and I got the same
> result. And I also make sure that I had no error messages during the
> preparation runs.
>

If the protein crashes in the absence of anything else, then likely you have 
problems with its starting geometry.  Applying restraints during minimization is 
probably causing the clashes to be insufficiently resolved.

> I am using the amber03 force field.
> My dummy atoms have a radius of 1.00 and a charge of 0.00. And yes they
> are non bonded atoms.
>

Radius of 1.0 nm?  If the crash occurs without these atoms, then it's likely 
irrelevant, but with particles 10 times the size of normal atoms, you may be 
asking for trouble.

-Justin


>> On 10/18/12 7:05 AM, reisingere at rostlab.informatik.tu-muenchen.de wrote:
>>> Hi Justin,
>>>
>>> I already read the page you send me.
>>> And I am sure about the first points. But I am not completely sure about
>>
>> Sure about the first five points?  The five suggestions on the page I
>> linked are
>> all diagnostic steps.  What did they turn up?
>>
>>> the mdp file for the nvt run.
>>>
>>> It looks like this:
>>>
>>> define               = -DPOSRES
>>> integrator           = md
>>> dt                   = 0.002
>>> nsteps               = 10000
>>> nstxout              = 0
>>> nstvout              = 0
>>> nstfout              = 0
>>> nstlog               = 1000
>>> nstxtcout            = 0
>>> nstenergy            = 5
>>> energygrps           = Protein Non-Protein
>>> nstcalcenergy        = 5
>>> nstlist              = 10
>>> ns-type              = Grid
>>> pbc                  = xyz
>>> rlist                = 0.9
>>> coulombtype          = PME
>>> rcoulomb             = 0.9
>>> rvdw                 = 0.9
>>> fourierspacing       = 0.12
>>> pme_order            = 4
>>> ewald_rtol           = 1e-5
>>> gen_vel              = yes
>>> gen_temp             = 200.0
>>> gen_seed             = 9999
>>> constraints          = all-bonds
>>> tcoupl               = V-rescale
>>> tc-grps              = Protein  Non-Protein
>>> tau_t                = 0.1      0.1
>>> ref_t                = 298      298
>>> pcoupl               = no
>>>
>>
>> What force field are you using?  What about my questions related to your
>> so-called dummy atoms?  What are they and what are their parameters?  Your
>> minimization seemed fine, so there's clearly something wrong with the
>> physical
>> model that leads to a crash during MD.  At present, there's not enough
>> information to say exactly what.
>>
>> -Justin
>>
>>>
>>> Thank you for your help,
>>>    Eva
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 10/18/12 6:15 AM, reisingere at rostlab.informatik.tu-muenchen.de
>>>> wrote:
>>>>> Hi Erik,
>>>>>
>>>>> my .mdp file looks like this:
>>>>>
>>>>> define                  = -DPOSRES
>>>>> integrator              = steep
>>>>> emtol                   = 10
>>>>> nsteps                  = 30000
>>>>> nstenergy               = 1
>>>>> energygrps              = System
>>>>> coulombtype             = PME
>>>>> rcoulomb                = 0.9
>>>>> rvdw                    = 0.9
>>>>> rlist                   = 0.9
>>>>> fourierspacing          = 0.12
>>>>> pme_order               = 4
>>>>> ewald_rtol              = 1e-5
>>>>> pbc                     = xyz
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> And yes, I use constraints. I have a membrane represented by dummy
>>>>> atoms
>>>>> around my protein. They are fixed and I also fixed the backbone. Or is
>>>>> that a problem.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> The EM seems to have worked fine, so we need the .mdp file for NVT, not
>>>> EM.
>>>> Your membrane representation could be an issue, but I'm not clear on
>>>> the
>>>> terminology here.  A "dummy atom" (or virtual site) is a particle with
>>>> nonbonded
>>>> parameters but no mass.  Is that what you're dealing with?  If this
>>>> membrane
>>>> environment is fixed and the backbone is too, you may get clashes in
>>>> the
>>>> system,
>>>> but it doesn't sound like there's a whole lot that's moving in the
>>>> first
>>>> place.
>>>>     General troubleshooting advice (that I seem to post almost daily):
>>>>
>>>> http://www.gromacs.org/Documentation/Terminology/Blowing_Up#Diagnosing_an_Unstable_System
>>>>
>>>> Your simulation is failing fairly early, so finding the source of the
>>>> crash
>>>> should not be terribly difficult.
>>>>
>>>> -Justin
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>> It could be due to your mdp-settings. What's your time step? Do you
>>>>>> use
>>>>>> constraints and virtual interaction sites?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Erik
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 18 okt 2012 kl. 12.04 skrev
>>>>>> reisingere at rostlab.informatik.tu-muenchen.de:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi Felix,
>>>>>>> thank you for your answer.
>>>>>>> So you think that a force of 3.2341940e+02 is okey? To work on?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I also tried to work on with a NVT run but then I got many many
>>>>>>> LINCS
>>>>>>> warnings:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Step 1114, time 2.228 (ps)  LINCS WARNING
>>>>>>> relative constraint deviation after LINCS:
>>>>>>> rms 0.000169, max 0.001796 (between atoms 3480 and 3482)
>>>>>>> bonds that rotated more than 30 degrees:
>>>>>>> atom 1 atom 2  angle  previous, current, constraint length
>>>>>>>      3480   3482   30.3    0.1090   0.1092      0.1090
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Step 1121, time 2.242 (ps)  LINCS WARNING
>>>>>>> relative constraint deviation after LINCS:
>>>>>>> rms 0.000108, max 0.000561 (between atoms 2000 and 2001)
>>>>>>> bonds that rotated more than 30 degrees:
>>>>>>> atom 1 atom 2  angle  previous, current, constraint length
>>>>>>>      2002   2005   30.4    0.1090   0.1090      0.1090
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> And in the end there is the error:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Fatal error:
>>>>>>> 11 particles communicated to PME node 2 are more than 2/3 times the
>>>>>>> cut-off out of the domain decomposit
>>>>>>> ion cell of their charge group in dimension x.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I looked it up on the GROMACS site and it was written there that
>>>>>>> such
>>>>>>> a
>>>>>>> error is caused by a not well equilibrated system.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> So I thought that the high force might be the reason.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> What do you think?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks again!!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Hi Eva,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The change in energy in every step became smaller than the machine
>>>>>>>> precision can represent (as is stated in the output). In other
>>>>>>>> words:
>>>>>>>> your
>>>>>>>> system is minimized to a very high degree.
>>>>>>>> A value of 10 for the Fmax is very low for a system like yours,
>>>>>>>> even
>>>>>>>> with
>>>>>>>> a pure protein in water system you probably wouldn't hit this
>>>>>>>> value.
>>>>>>>> Furthermore, 30.000 steps for a minimization seems pretty high to
>>>>>>>> me.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>>>>> Felix
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
>>>>>>>> Von: gmx-users-bounces at gromacs.org
>>>>>>>> [mailto:gmx-users-bounces at gromacs.org]
>>>>>>>> Im Auftrag von reisingere at rostlab.informatik.tu-muenchen.de
>>>>>>>> Gesendet: Donnerstag, 18. Oktober 2012 10:56
>>>>>>>> An: gmx-users at gromacs.org
>>>>>>>> Betreff: [gmx-users] question about the minimization
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Hi everybody,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I have a question about the minimization of my protein. For this
>>>>>>>> minimization I fixed the backbone and the membrane atoms which
>>>>>>>> around
>>>>>>>> my
>>>>>>>> protein.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I minimized it 30000 steps long but after step 20385 it stops with
>>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>>> output:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Steepest Descents converged to machine precision in 20385 steps,
>>>>>>>> but
>>>>>>>> did
>>>>>>>> not reach the requested Fmax < 10.
>>>>>>>> Potential Energy  = -8.8805600e+05
>>>>>>>> Maximum force     =  3.2341940e+02 on atom 3050
>>>>>>>> Norm of force     =  2.0930219e+00
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I do not see why it can not reach a lower force.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I already looked at the structure with Pymol and there I saw that
>>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>>> atom
>>>>>>>> 3050 is in a loop and do not interact with any other residue.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> My .mdp file looks like this:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> define                  = -DPOSRES
>>>>>>>> integrator              = steep
>>>>>>>> emtol                   = 10
>>>>>>>> nsteps                  = 30000
>>>>>>>> nstenergy               = 1
>>>>>>>> energygrps              = System
>>>>>>>> coulombtype             = PME
>>>>>>>> rcoulomb                = 0.9
>>>>>>>> rvdw                    = 0.9
>>>>>>>> rlist                   = 0.9
>>>>>>>> fourierspacing          = 0.12
>>>>>>>> pme_order               = 4
>>>>>>>> ewald_rtol              = 1e-5
>>>>>>>> pbc                     = xyz
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Do you see a reason why it can not reach a force lower than 10?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Thank you,
>>>>>>>> Eva
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> --
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>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
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>>>>>>
>>>>>> -----------------------------------------------
>>>>>> Erik Marklund, PhD
>>>>>> Dept. of Cell and Molecular Biology, Uppsala University.
>>>>>> Husargatan 3, Box 596,    75124 Uppsala, Sweden
>>>>>> phone:    +46 18 471 6688        fax: +46 18 511 755
>>>>>> erikm at xray.bmc.uu.se
>>>>>> http://www2.icm.uu.se/molbio/elflab/index.html
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
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>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> ========================================
>>>>
>>>> Justin A. Lemkul, Ph.D.
>>>> Research Scientist
>>>> Department of Biochemistry
>>>> Virginia Tech
>>>> Blacksburg, VA
>>>> jalemkul[at]vt.edu | (540) 231-9080
>>>> http://www.bevanlab.biochem.vt.edu/Pages/Personal/justin
>>>>
>>>> ========================================
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>> ========================================
>>
>> Justin A. Lemkul, Ph.D.
>> Research Scientist
>> Department of Biochemistry
>> Virginia Tech
>> Blacksburg, VA
>> jalemkul[at]vt.edu | (540) 231-9080
>> http://www.bevanlab.biochem.vt.edu/Pages/Personal/justin
>>
>> ========================================
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>
>

-- 
========================================

Justin A. Lemkul, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
Department of Biochemistry
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA
jalemkul[at]vt.edu | (540) 231-9080
http://www.bevanlab.biochem.vt.edu/Pages/Personal/justin

========================================



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