Skip to main content

facts (c40b1)

FACTS: Fast Analytical Continuum Treatment of Solvation
-------------------------------------------------------


Questions and comments regarding FACTS should be directed to
------------------------------------------------------------
Amedeo Caflisch (caflisch@bioc.uzh.ch)

Reference for FACTS:
--------------------
[1]Haberthuer and Caflisch, J. Comput. Chem., 29(5): 701-715, 2008
DOI: 10.1002/jcc.20832


* Description | Description of FACTS
* Syntax | Syntax of the FACTS Commands
* Function | Description of the FACTS keywords and options
* Examples | Usage examples of the FACTS module
* Examples-II | Usage examples of the FACTS energy decomposition


Top
FACTS is an efficient generalized Born implicit solvent model [1].Because
of its speed it is particularly useful for MD simulations. It is based on
the fully analytical evaluation of the volume and spatial symmetry of the
solvent that is displaced from around a solute atom by its neighboring
atoms. The two measures of solvent displacement are combined in empirical
equations to approximate the atomic (or self) electrostatic solvation
energy and the solvent accessible surface area. The former directly yields
the effective Born radius of each atom, which is used in the generalized
Born formula to calculate the screening of the pairwise interactions.
(Note that the effective pairwise interactions are the sum of
the low-dielectric Coulombic energy and the generalized Born energy.)
The solvent accessible surface area is used to approximate the non-polar
contribution to solvation. FACTS is only 3 to 5 times slower than using the
vacuum energy in molecular dynamics simulations of peptides and proteins.


1) Force field and further parameterization.
FACTS can be used with either force field "param19" or "param22/27".
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IMPORTANT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
! FACTS with param22 should be used with the special GBSW CMAP parameter !
! file "par_all22_prot_gbsw.inp", which is in ~charmm/toppar/gbsw/ !
! The GBSW CMAP is necessary for a correct conformational equilibrium !
! of the peptide backbone. !
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is important to note that MD simulations of miniprotein folding
and peptide aggregation suggest (as of today, i.e., June 2011) that
param22 should be used with TEPS 1.0
and
param19 should be used with TEPS 2.0
(TEPS is the dielectric constant of the solute, see below).

FACTS parameters were derived for protein atoms only. Parameters for unknown
atom types can be interpolated from known ones with the "TAVW" option
(see below).

2) Periodic boundary conditions.
The FACTS module works with the IMAGE facility, the image setup should
precede the call to FACTS command.

3) Ionic strength.
The influence of salt can be taken into account on the Debye-Huckel
level based on the formalism described in [J. Srinivasan, M.W. Trevathan,
P. Beroza, and D.A. Case, Theor. Chem. Acc., 101, 426-434 (1999)].
The default is without salts.

4) Constraints and rigid atoms.
FACTS can correctly treat fixed atoms (CONS FIX). They are taken into account
as low dielectric region for the evaluation of the effective Born radii,
and for calculation of the accessible surface. Moreover, the screening of the
pairwise interactions between fixed and flexible atoms is taken into account
by the generalized Born formula.

5) Energy decomposition.
FACTS is compatible with the BLOCK module.
The INTE command can be used to evaluate FACTS energy between two
subsets of atoms.
The flag SLFO (SeLF-Only) calculates only the self-energy which is the
sum of electrostatic self-polarization (1st term on the right hand side of
Equation (8) in ref. [1]) and the non-polar solvation energy
(Sum_i GAMMa * SASA_i).
The flag SCRO (SCReen-Only) calculates only the electrostatic screening energy
(2nd term on the right hand side of Equation (8) in ref. [1]).

6) FACTS energy variables
The FACTS polar and non-polar energy of the latest energy evaluation can be
accessed with ?FCTP and ?FCTN, respectively.

7) Parallel code.
The FACTS algorithm has been parallelized in 2007 by F.Marchand
(fmarchand@bioc.uzh.ch).


Top
Syntax of the FACTS Command
---------------------------

FACTs { TCPS < 19 | 22 > } { TEPS < 1.0 | 2.0 > }
[TKPS real] [GAMM real] -
[CONC real] [TEMP real] -
[TAVW] [TPSL] -
[TCIL real] [TCIC real] -
[ < SLFO | SCRO > ] -
[SLFU integer] [SCRU integer] [NPOU integer]


Top
Description of the FACTS keywords and options
---------------------------------------------

Keyword Default Purpose
------- ------- -------

TCPS 22 Choice of force field: all-atom (22) or polar hydrogens,
i.e., extended carbon and sulfur atoms (19).
Note that TCPS 22 also works
with param27, although only protein atoms are parameterized.

TEPS 1.0 Solute dielectric constant. One can specify only TEPS = 1.0
or TEPS = 2.0, since only these values were used as interior
dielectric constant for the finite-difference Poisson
calculation of atomic solvation energies which are the
reference values employed to parameterize FACTS.

TKPS 4.0 Kappa, the factor in the denominator of the exponential
function in the Generalized Born formula. It usually
ranges between 4.0 (Still's original equation) and 8.0.

GAMM 0.015 Nonpolar surface tension coefficients in [kcal/(molxA^2)].
Ideally one should start test simulations with different
values of GAMM (e.g., 0.0075, 0.010, 0.015, and 0.020)
but see also the values suggested in the examples below.

CONC 0.0 Monovalent salt concentration in [M].

TEMP 298 Temperature in [K] of the Debye-Huckel screening parameter
(only necessary with CONC).

TAVW false FACTS distinguishes atoms solely based on their VdW radius
and only atoms found in proteins are currently parameterized.
If a system contains atoms whose radii are not among those
already parameterized in FACTS, then the "TAVW" option will
interpolate new parameters from already parameterized atoms.

TPSL false Flag to print detailed information about the atomic
self-electrostatic contribution to the energy.

TCIL 7.5 {param 19} Cutoff for the SHIFT function of pairwise screening
12.0 {param 22} interactions. It corresponds to the CTOFNB of non-bond
interactions and must have the same value for
consistency.

TCIC 9.0 {param 19} Cutoff for the list of pairwise screening interactions.
14.0 {param 22} It corresponds to the CUTNB of non-bond interactions
and must have the same value for consistency.


Keywords for FACTS energy (post-)analysis and decomposition:
(more explanation in the example below)


SLFO false (SeLF-Only) Flag to compute self-energy (self-polarization)
and non-polar energy only. The electrostatic screening
energy (i.e., pairwise generalized Born term) is NOT computed.
Mutually exclusive with SCRO.

SCRO false (SCReen-Only) Flag to compute the electrostatic screening
energy. Note that this is the pairwise generalized Born term,
i.e., the 2nd term on the right hand side of Equation (8) in
ref. [1]. It is usually positive, i.e., unfavorable, because
it is dominated by pairs of charges of opposite sign
which have more favorable electrostatic interaction in vacuo
than in a high-dielectric solvent.
Self-energy and non-polar energy are NOT computed.
Mutually exclusive with SLFO.

SLFU -1 Fortran unit on which the atomic self-energy values are
written. Each line contains NATOM self-energy values
(order from 1 to NATOM).

SCRU -1 Fortran unit on which the "atomic sums" of screening energies
are written. Each line contains NATOM "atomic sum" values.
(order from 1 to NATOM).

NPOU -1 Fortran unit on which the atomic non-polar contributions are
written. Each line contains NATOM non-polar energies.
(order from 1 to NATOM).


Top
Examples
--------

PARAM 19
--------

REMARK: It was observed that (for param19) FACTS performs better with
the solute dielectric constant (TEPS) set to 2.0 rather than to 1.0.

! ------------------------------------------------------------------

! large, globular systems (e.g., protein in folded state)
! epsilon=2.0 and GAMMa=0.025

set diele 2.0

nbond nbxmod 5 atom cdiel eps @diele shift vatom vdistance vshift -
cutnb 9.0 ctofnb 7.5 ctonnb 6.5 e14fac 0.4 wmin 1.5

scalar wmain = radius
scalar wmain set 1.0 selection (type h*) end

facts tcps 19 teps @diele gamm 0.025

! ------------------------------------------------------------------

! Reversible folding simulations of structured peptides
! epsilon=2.0 and GAMMa=0.015

set diele 2.0

nbond nbxmod 5 atom cdiel eps @diele shift vatom vdistance vshift -
cutnb 9.0 ctofnb 7.5 ctonnb 6.5 e14fac 0.4 wmin 1.5

scalar wmain = radius
scalar wmain set 1.0 selection (type h*) end

facts tcps 19 teps @diele gamm 0.015

! ------------------------------------------------------------------

! Unstructured peptides and peptide aggregation
! epsilon=2.0 and GAMMa=0.0075

set diele 2.0

nbond nbxmod 5 atom cdiel eps @diele shift vatom vdistance vshift -
cutnb 9.0 ctofnb 7.5 ctonnb 6.5 e14fac 0.4 wmin 1.5

scalar wmain = radius
scalar wmain set 1.0 selection (type h*) end

facts tcps 19 teps @diele gamm 0.0075

! ------------------------------------------------------------------

! Print detailed informations about the atomic self-electrostatic
! contributions to the energy with the 'TPSL' option

set diele 2.0

nbond nbxmod 5 atom cdiel eps @diele shift vatom vdistance vshift -
cutnb 9.0 ctofnb 7.5 ctonnb 6.5 e14fac 0.4 wmin 1.5

scalar wmain = radius
scalar wmain set 1.0 selection (type h*) end

facts tcps 19 teps @diele TPSL

! ------------------------------------------------------------------


PARAM 22
--------

REMARK: Use the special GBSW CMAP parameter file "par_all22_prot_gbsw.inp"
(~charmm/toppar/gbsw/par_all22_prot_gbsw.inp)

! ------------------------------------------------------------------

! epsilon=1.0 and GAMMa=0.015
! Interpolate parameters for non-parameterized
! radii with the 'TAVW' option

! read in the CMAP topology file (standard)
open read card unit 10 name @toppar/top_all22_prot_cmap.inp
read rtf card unit 10
close unit 10

!read in the parameter file that contains GBSW specific CMAP
open read card unit 11 name @topar/par_all22_prot_gbsw.inp
read para card unit 11
close unit 11

...
...

set diele 1.0

nbond nbxmod 5 atom cdiel eps @diele shift vatom vdistance vswitch -
cutnb 14.0 ctofnb 12.0 ctonnb 10.0 e14fac 1.0 wmin 1.5

scalar wmain = radius

facts tcps 22 teps @diele gamm 0.015 TAVW

! ------------------------------------------------------------------

See also: test cases ~/charmm/test/c35test/facts_p19.inp
~/charmm/test/c35test/facts_p22.inp


Top
Keywords for FACTS energy (post-)analysis and decomposition:
------------------------------------------------------------


Sometimes it is useful and informative to decompose the solvation energy
into its different contributions or to determine which part of a system
contribute most to a given process (for example, which groups of a ligand
contribute most to binding affinity). A serie of keywords was introduced
to decompose the FACTS solvation energy. Also, FACTS can now be used with
the INTEraction command. These keyword are designed for post-processing
(of MD trajectories for example) rather than dynamics or minimization.


The FACTS solvation energy is

dG = FCTPOL1 + FCTPOL2 + FCTNPL

with

FCTPOL1 = Sum of atomic self-energies (self-polarizations).
FCTPOL2 = Sum of pairs of screening interactions (usually positive because
dominated by pairs of charges of opposite sign).
FCTNPL = Sum of non-polar contributions (= Sum_i GAMMa * SASA_i ;
GAMMa is surface tension, SASA is the Solvent Accessible
Surface Area).

Note that FCTPOL1 and FCTPOL2 correspond to the first and second term,
respectively, on the right hand side of Equation (8) in ref. [1].

FCTPOL1 and FCTPOL2 are both electrostatic contributions and their sum is given
by the "FCTPOL>" field in CHARMM output. FCTNPL is given by the "FCTNPL>"
field. FCTPOL1 and FCTNPL are both atomic contributions, in contrast to
FCTPOL2 which is the pairwise screening.

It is important to note that
the effective electrostatic interaction (or screenED interaction) between two
atoms i and j is the sum of the vacuo Coulombic energy and the GB screening
interaction (FCTPOL2(i,j)). Contrary to the Coulombic interactions, the GB
screening interactions involve also the 1-2 and 1-3 pairs (i.e., pairs of
atoms separated by a single covalent bond or two covalent bonds).
Without them the hydration free energy (related to the transfer from vacuo
to water) would be far too favorable for any molecule. Note also that
with FACTS both the Coulombic and screening interactions
use a SHIFT cutoff function. The value of these cutoffs must be the same,
as they are with the default settings.

A detailed decomposition of the different contributions can be obtained by
using the INTE command.


Let's consider a system composed of two interacting segments, S1 and S2
which could be protein and small-molecule ligand, respectively.

Example 1:
----------

! Compute the screening interaction (i.e., the generalized Born term)
! between segments S1 and S2.
! The value will be returned in the "INTE FCTPOL>" field in the output
! (use SCRO and INTE command)


! FACTS command:
facts tcps 22 teps @diele gamm @gamma SCRO

...

open read file unit 21 name ./dcd/@dcdfile
trajectory query unit 21
set nstop ?nfile
traj iread 21 iwrite -1 nfile @nstop

! Starting frame
set n 1
label looptrj

traj read

! INTE command:
inte sele segid S1 end sele segid S2 end

incr n
if @n .le. @nstop goto looptrj


Example 2 (only the FACTS and INTE command are given):
------------------------------------------------------

! Compute the self-energy of segment S2 only (but still in the presence of
! segment S1). This will give the sum of atomic self-energies belonging
! only to segment S2 in the "INTE FCTPOL>" field and the sum of atomic
! non-polar contributions belonging only to segment S2 in the "INTE FCTNPL>"
! field.
! Note: by setting the surface tension (GAMMa) to 1.0 the "INTE FCTNPL>" value
! will be equal to the SASA (as approximated by FACTS)


! FACTS command:
facts tcps 22 teps @diele gamm @gamma SLFO

! INTE command:
inte sele segid S2 end sele segid S2 end


Example 3:
----------

! Compute the screening interactions within segment S2 only

! FACTS command:
facts tcps 22 teps @diele gamm @gamma SCRO

! INTE command:
inte sele segid S2 end sele segid S2 end


Example 4: (effective electrostatic interaction)
------------------------------------------------

! Compute the effective electrostatic interaction between S1 and S2
! which is the sum of the low-dielectric Coulombic energy
! and the generalized Born energy:
! Effective(S1-S2) = Coulomb(S1-S2) + Screening(S1-S2)

! ELEC(S1-S2), FCTPOL2(S1-S2), and EFFECTIVE are all written to a file
! EFFECTIVE = ELEC(S1-S2) + FCTPOL2(S1-S2)
! ELEC(S1-S2) < 0.0 usually
! FCTPOL2(S1-S2) > 0.0 usually
! -----------------

...
facts tcps 22 teps @diele gamm @gamma SCRO
...

set seg1 S1
set seg2 S2
open write card unit 30 name ./data/@system.screen.@seg1.@seg2.dat

open read file unit 21 name ./dcd/@dcdfile
trajectory query unit 21
set nstop ?nfile
traj iread 21 iwrite -1 nfile @nstop

! Starting frame
set n 1
label looptrj

traj read

! INTE command:
inte sele segid @seg1 end sele segid @seg2 end
calc effect = ?elec + ?fctp
write title unit 30
* ?elec ?fctp @effect
*

incr n
if @n .le. @nstop goto looptrj
! -----------------


Example 5:
----------

Further, time series of atomic contributions can be written to files with the
SLFU, SCRU, and NPOU keywords:

! -----------------
! FACTS command:
facts tcps 22 teps @diele gamm @gamma SLFU 43 NPOU 44 SCRU 45

...

! The files are opened only here, as a line is written at
! each energy evaluation (twice during FACTS initialization)

open write card unit 43 name ./data/@system.self.dat
open write card unit 44 name ./data/@system.npl.dat
open write card unit 45 name ./data/@system.scr.dat


open read file unit 21 name ./dcd/@dcdfile
trajectory query unit 21
set nstop ?nfile
traj iread 21 iwrite -1 nfile @nstop

! Starting frame
set n 1
label looptrj

traj read
ener

incr n
if @n .le. @nstop goto looptrj

! --------------

The resulting files, *.self.dat, *.npl.dat, *.scr.dat will contain ?nfile lines
with NATOM fields (the atomic contributions for each frame).

For the atomic screening sums (SCRU), half of the screening interaction between
atom I and J is given to atom I and the other half to atom J. Thus, field I is
equal to half the sum all screening interactions involving atom I.


Example 6: (binding energy)
-----------------------------

! Compute the binding energy between segment S1 and S2 (useful for docking).
! This can be done with the BLOCK module by setting the intra-block
! coefficients (S1-S1 and S2-S2) to 0.0 and the inter-block coefficients
! (S1-S2) to 1.0.
! The binding energy is the sum of VdW, Coulombic, and FACTS interactions
! between the two segments.

! The total FACTS/BLOCK interactions between segment S1 and S2 is the sum of
! 1) the changes of atomic self-energies due to the presence of the other
! segment
! 2) the GB screening interactions between segments S1 and S2
! 3) the changes in the GB screening interactions within segment S1 due to
! the presence of S2, and within segment S2 due to the presence of S1
! 4) the changes in the atomic non-polar contributions due to the presence
! of the other segment
! --------------
...

set seg1 S1
set seg2 S2

! Enter BLOCK module
! Define number of subsystems (2)
block 2

! Decompose the system into subsystems
call 2 sele segid @seg2 end

! Set the interaction coefficient matrix
coef 1 1 0.0
coef 1 2 1.0
coef 2 2 0.0

end

...
facts tcps 22 teps @diele gamm @gamma
...

open write card unit 30 name ./data/@system.inter.@seg1.@seg2.dat

open read file unit 21 name ./dcd/@dcdfile
trajectory query unit 21
set nstop ?nfile
traj iread 21 iwrite -1 nfile @nstop

! Starting frame
set n 1
label looptrj

traj read
ener

calc dgtot = ?vdw + ?elec + ?fctp + ?fctn

write title unit 30
* ?vdw ?elec ?fctp ?fctn @dgtot
*

incr n
if @n .le. @nstop goto looptrj

! --------------