Subsections

6.2 Creating a receptor

This section has several examples of how to use the FRED executable to create a receptor site. Note that a receptor file can also be created using the fred_receptor GUI available from the download section of the OpenEye website (www.eyesopen.com).

These examples all have FRED create and write a receptor site file and then terminate. If you add the -dbase flag, and pass the name of a multiconformer ligand file to it FRED will begin docking those molecules after creating the receptor site and writing it to a file.

6.2.1 With a box

6.2.1.1 Command Line

fred -pro protein.pdb -box box.pdb -addbox 4.0

6.2.1.2 Description

FRED will create a receptor site with the given protein, using a user supplied box to locate the site on the protein.

6.2.1.3 Parameters

-pro
protein.pdb

This tells FRED to create a receptor using the protein located in the file protein.pdb. If the protein structure contains a bound ligand it should be stripped from the file before running FRED.

-box
box.pdb

This flag defines the extents of the active site using a box that is in a molecular file format. The maximum and minimum x,y and z values of any heavy atom in box.pdb will define the maximum and minimum x,y and z values of the box, which is always aligned along the coordinate axises.

-addbox
4.0

This flag tells FRED to modify the box specified by the -box flag, by adding 4 Angstroms to every side. This flag is optional, but it very commonly used with this setting when box.pdb is a bound ligand. (passing a bound ligand to -box without using -addbox flag generally results in the receptor site being too small).

6.2.1.4 Output

setup.txt
A file with the settings of all of FRED's parameters. Note that there will be many more parameters in this file than those specified on the command line because many parameters have default values. This file will be written at the beginning of the run.

status.txt
This file will be written every few seconds by FRED and indicates the status of the run.

receptor.oeb.gz
A receptor file that contains the binding site defined by the -box and -addbox parameters.

6.2.2 With a bound ligand

6.2.2.1 Command Line

fred -pro protein.pdb -bound_ligand bound_ligand.pdb

6.2.2.2 Description

FRED will create a receptor site, by using the supplied protein structure in combination with a shape based site detection algorithm and the position of a known bound ligand. The extent of the site created is determined by the site detection algorithm with some guidance from the position of the known bound ligand.

6.2.2.3 Parameters

-pro
protein.pdb

tells FRED to create a receptor using the protein located in the file protein.pdb. If the protein structure contains a bound ligand it should be stripped from this file before running FRED.

-bound_ligand
bound_ligand.pdb

specifies a file containing a ligand in a pose bound to the active site (generally from the same x-ray crystallography data used to determine the protein structure). FRED uses this bound ligand in conjunction with a shape based site detection algorithm to determine the extent of the active site.

6.2.2.4 Output

setup.txt
A file with the settings of all of FRED's parameters. Note that there will be many more parameters in this file than those specified on the command line because many parameters have default values. This file will be written at the beginning of the run.

status.txt
This file will be written every few seconds by FRED and indicates the status of the run.

receptor.oeb.gz
A receptor file. In addition to the required receptor data, this receptor file will contain a copy of the bound ligand.

6.2.3 With a box and a bound ligand

6.2.3.1 Command Line

fred -pro protein.pdb -box box.pdb -addbox 4.0 -bound_ligand ligand.pdb

6.2.3.2 Description

FRED will create a receptor site with the given protein, using a user supplied box to locate the site on the protein. FRED will also attach a bound ligand (ligand.pdb) to the receptor site, although because we have specified the -box flag the ligand will not be used to locate the receptor site as was the case in the previous example.

6.2.3.3 Parameters

-pro
protein.pdb

This tells FRED to create a receptor using the protein located in the file protein.pdb. If the protein structure contains a bound ligand it should be stripped from the file before running FRED.

-box
box.pdb

This flag defines the extents of the active site using a box that is in a molecular file format. The maximum and minimum x,y and z values of any heavy atom in box.pdb will define the maximum and minimum x,y and z values of the box, which is always aligned along the coordinate axises.

-addbox
4.0

This flag tells FRED to modify the box specified by the -box flag, by adding 4 Angstroms to every side. This flag is optional, but it very commonly used with this setting when box.pdb is a bound ligand. (passing a bound ligand to -box without using -addbox flag generally results in the receptor site being too small).

-bound_ligand
ligand.pdb

This flag tells FRED to attach ligand.pdb to the receptor file as a known bound ligand. Because we have specified the -box flag the structure of the bound ligand is not used to locate the receptor site.

6.2.3.4 Output

setup.txt
A file with the settings of all of FRED's parameters. Note that there will be many more parameters in this file than those specified on the command line because many parameters have default values. This file will be written at the beginning of the run.

status.txt
This file will be written every few seconds by FRED and indicates the status of the run.

receptor.oeb.gz
A receptor file that contains the binding site defined by the -box and -addbox parameters.

6.2.4 Without a box or bound ligand

6.2.4.1 Command Line

fred -pro protein.pdb

6.2.4.2 Description

FRED will create a receptor site using the supplied protein and will guess at the location of the active site using a shape based site detection algorithm. This method of setting up a receptor site is not foolproof and it is possible that FRED will not locate the active site correctly. Therefore it is recommended that you use either a bound ligand or specify the location of the active site with a box if that information is available.

Success at determining the active site with this method is fairly binary, i.e. site detection either works well or fails completely. A good rule of thumb is that the active site will be correctly located 4 out of 5 times.

6.2.4.3 Parameters

-pro
protein.pdb

tells FRED to create a receptor using the protein located in the file protein.pdb. If the protein structure contains a bound ligand it should be stripped from this file before running FRED.

-bound_ligand
bound_ligand.pdb

specifies a file containing a ligand in a pose bound to the active site (generally from the same x-ray crystallography data used to determine the protein structure). FRED use this bound ligand in conjunction with a shape based site detection algorithm to determine the extent of the active site.

6.2.4.4 Output

setup.txt
A file with the settings of all of FRED's parameters. Note that there will be many more parameters in this file than those specified on the command line because many parameters have default values. This file will be written at the beginning of the run.

status.txt
This file will be written every few seconds by FRED and indicates the status of the run.

receptor.oeb.gz
A receptor file.