Nancy wrote:

<snip>

Sounds like things are going fine.

I viewed the trajectory of the equilibration, and it looks reasonable. The O-C-C-O conformation is mostly trans (anti) during the entire NVT equilibration, and the OH hydrogens form numerous hydrogen bonds with the solvent (it seems there are no intramolecular hydrogen bonds). Therefore, the hydrogen bonds do form, given the charges adopted from the methanol topology (O: -0.574, H: +0.398, CH2: +0.176). Do these charge values seem reasonable?


"Reasonable" and "valid" are two separate ideas that may or may not be true simultaneously. If you look, for example, at the charges on a serine side chain in 53a6, all of your charges are very different. Since methanol was used to parameterize serine, I don't know where the charges in the tutorial file came from. The tutorial files claim to use 43a1, in any case, so be careful of blindly copying parameters from some other location.

To convince a skeptical audience (i.e., reviewers) that your parameters are valid, at least use the parameters from the functional groups present in the force field parameter set you claim to be using. Beyond that, you should really be validating the parameters based on the original force field methodology, i.e., calculations of thermodynamic observables, described in full in the 2004 JCC paper dedicated to the 53a5 and 53a6 parameter sets.

The ethylene glycol lacks explicit non-polar hydrogens; is that normal for this type of system, force field (based on GROMOS96 53a6) and SPC/E water model?


Since G53a6 is a UA force field, by definition, yes. If this comes as a surprise, you should certainly do a little background reading about this type of force field and why you want to use it. Choosing a force field for simulation is perhaps the most important part of running your experiments. If you don't know the ins and outs (benefits, limitations, accuracy) of a particular parameter set, you're asking for trouble if a reviewer asks you why you felt it was best :)

-Justin

Thank you.

Nancy




===========ethanediol.top===========
;
; Topology from .mol2 file
; topolbuild
;
; The force field files to be included
#include "ffethanediol.itp"

 [ moleculetype ]
; name  nrexcl
EDO_ideal.pdb   3

 [ atoms ]
;  nr    type   resnr   residu   atom   cgnr    charge      mass
1 CH2 1 EDO C1 1 0.00000 14.02700 ; 0.0000000 2 OA 1 EDO O1 1 0.00000 15.99940 ; 0.0000000 3 H 1 EDO HO1 1 0.00000 1.00800 ; 0.0000000 4 CH2 1 EDO C2 2 0.00000 14.02700 ; 0.0000000 5 OA 1 EDO O2 2 0.00000 15.99940 ; 0.0000000 6 H 1 EDO HO2 2 0.00000 1.00800 ; 0.0000000
; total molecule charge =   0.0000000

 [ bonds ]
;   ai  aj   funct      b0          kb
       1     4   2     0.15200     5430000.       ;    C1-    C2
       4     5   2     0.14350     6100000.       ;    C2-    O2
       5     6   2     0.10000    15700000.       ;    O2-   HO2
       1     2   2     0.14350     6100000.       ;    C1-    O1
       2     3   2     0.10000    15700000.       ;    O1-   HO1

 [ pairs ]
       2       5  1       ;    O1-    O2
       1       6  1       ;    C1-   HO2
       4       3  1       ;    C2-   HO1

[ angles ]
; ai  aj  ak  funct      th0         cth
     2     1     4   2     109.500    320.0000     ;    O1-    C1-    C2
     1     4     5   2     109.500    320.0000     ;    C1-    C2-    O2
     4     5     6   2     109.500    450.0000     ;    C2-    O2-   HO2
     1     2     3   2     109.500    450.0000     ;    C1-    O1-   HO1

[ dihedrals ]
; ai  aj   ak  al  funct    phi0          cp      mult
2 1 4 5 1 0.000 2.530 3 ; dih O1- C1- C2- O2 2 1 4 5 1 0.000 5.350 1 ; dih O1- C1- C2- O2 1 4 5 6 1 0.000 1.260 3 ; dih C1- C2- O2- HO2 4 1 2 3 1 0.000 1.260 3 ; dih C2- C1- O1- HO1

; Include Position restraint file
; WARNING: Position restraints and distance restraints ought not be done together
#ifdef POSRES
#include "posreethanediol.itp"
#endif

; Include water topology
#include "spce.itp"

#ifdef POSRES_WATER
; Position restraint for each water oxygen
[ position_restraints ]
;  i funct       fcx        fcy        fcz
   1    1       1000       1000       1000
#endif

; Include generic topology for ions
#include "ions.itp"

 [ system ]
; title from mol2 input
EDO_ideal.pdb

 [ molecules ]
; molecule name    nr.
EDO_ideal.pdb           1

===========ethanediol.top===========






On Sat, Aug 8, 2009 at 7:46 PM, Nagy, Peter I. <pn...@utnet.utoledo.edu <mailto:pn...@utnet.utoledo.edu>> wrote:


       It is extremely surprising that you have not found solute-solvent
    hydrogen bonds in aqueous solution. What is the O-C-C-O
    conformation? If it is trans, then what do the OH hydrogens do?
    If O-C-C-O is gauche, then existence of two internal hydrogen bonds
    is possible, but it is
    far from the quantum mechanically most stable form in the gas phase.
    I think that at least one solute-solvent hydrogen bond should have
    been seen. There are papers in the literature which do show
    solute-solvent hydrogen bonds in water. The exciting question is:
    there is one
    H-O-C-C trans moiety in the gas phase, and the other H is H-bonded
    to this oxygen, when the O-C-C-O skeleton is gauche. Then the
    question of solvation is, whether this intramolecular hydrogen bond
    is maintained or disrupts. In aqueous solution it may, whereas in
    chloroform or CCl4 both OH may be internally H-bonded. Experiments
    found 12% O-C-C-O trans and 88% O-C-C-O gauche conformers in aqueous
    solution. Modeling should find what are the positions of the hydroxy
    hydrogens.
       If you really do not find solute-solvent hydrogen bonds, your
    ethylene-glycol charges may be
    questionable. What charge values did you use? A possibility is that
    the glycol OH charges cannot compete with those of the water model
    (SPC, TIPxP or what) in forming intermolecular hydrogen bonds.

    Peter Nagy
    The University of Toledo,
    Toledo, OH 43606


    -----Original Message-----
    From: gmx-users-boun...@gromacs.org
    <mailto:gmx-users-boun...@gromacs.org> on behalf of Nancy
    Sent: Sat 8/8/2009 3:33 PM
    To: Discussion list for GROMACS users
    Subject: [gmx-users] Fatal Equilibration Errors

    Hello,

    I have successfully minimised and equilibrated ethylene glycol in a
    water
    box.  I have noticed that there seem to be no hydrogen bonds between the
    solute and solvent, but there are hydrogen bonds forming and breaking
    between solvent molecules.  Is this a normal behavior during
    minimsation and
    equilibration?

    I am now trying to run MD on glycerol.  I start with a
    "glycerol.mol2" file
    which contains the structure of glycerol.  I am using the following
    commands
    to setup and run minimisation and equilibration on glycerol:

    $ .../topolbuild1_2_1/src/topolbuild -n glycerol -dir
    .../topolbuild1_2_1/dat/gromacs -ff gmx53a6

    I modified the "defaults" part of the "ffglycerol.itp" (generated by
    topolbuild) file to read:

    ===========================
    [ defaults ]
    ;nbfunc     comb-rule      gen-pairs     fudgeLJ      fudgeQQ
          1             1             no         1.0          1.0
    ===========================

    $ editconf -f glycerol.gro -o glycerol_box.gro -box 2.65 2.65 2.65
    $ genbox -cp glycerol_box.gro -cs spc216.gro -o glycerol_solv.gro -p
    glycerol.top -box 2.65 2.65 2.65
    $ grompp -f em.mdp -c glycerol_solv.gro -p glycerol.top -o em.tpr

    my "em.mdp" file is as follows:

    ===========================
    constraints         =  none
    integrator          =  steep
    nsteps              =  10000

    emtol               =  10.0
    emstep              =  0.01

    nstlist             =  2
    coulombtype         =  PME
    nstcomm             =  2

    ns_type             =  grid
    rlist               =  1.0
    rcoulomb            =  1.0
    rvdw                =  1.3
    nstxout             =  2

    pbc                 =  xyz
    pme_order           =  4
    ===========================

    $ mdrun -v -deffnm em

    the last few lines of output are:

    ===============================================================
    Step= 6990, Dmax= 4.7e-04 nm, Epot= -3.34590e+04 Fmax= 9.13695e+01,
    atom= 4
    Step= 6992, Dmax= 2.8e-04 nm, Epot= -3.34590e+04 Fmax= 1.40130e+02,
    atom= 5
    Step= 6993, Dmax= 3.4e-04 nm, Epot= -3.34591e+04 Fmax= 8.57813e+01,
    atom= 4
    Step= 6994, Dmax= 4.0e-04 nm, Epot= -3.34591e+04 Fmax= 2.41887e+02,
    atom= 5
    Step= 6995, Dmax= 4.8e-04 nm, Epot= -3.34592e+04 Fmax= 9.36159e+01,
    atom= 4
    Step= 6999, Dmax= 7.3e-05 nm, Epot= -3.34592e+04 Fmax= 4.95606e+01,
    atom= 4
    Step= 7006, Dmax= 1.4e-06 nm, Epot= -3.34592e+04 Fmax= 4.89221e+01,
    atom= 4
    Stepsize too small, or no change in energy.
    Converged to machine precision,
    but not to the requested precision Fmax < 10

    Double precision normally gives you higher accuracy.
    You might need to increase your constraint accuracy, or turn
    off constraints alltogether (set constraints = none in mdp file)

    writing lowest energy coordinates.

    Steepest Descents converged to machine precision in 7007 steps,
    but did not reach the requested Fmax < 10.
    Potential Energy  = -3.3459230e+04
    Maximum force     =  4.9560604e+01 on atom 4
    Norm of force     =  3.4399371e+00
    ===============================================================

    As I believe these forces to be acceptable, I proceed to equilibration:

    $ grompp -f nvt.mdp -c em.gro -p glycerol.top -o nvt.tpr

    where my "nvt.mdp" file is:

    ===========================
    title        = Glycerol NVT equilibration
    define        = -DPOSRES

    integrator    = md
    nsteps        = 5000
    dt        = 0.002

    nstxout        = 10
    nstvout        = 10
    nstenergy    = 10
    nstlog        = 10

    continuation    = no
    constraint_algorithm = lincs
    constraints    = all-angles
    lincs_iter    = 1
    lincs_order    = 4

    ns_type        = grid
    nstlist        = 5
    rlist        = 1.0
    rcoulomb    = 1.0
    rvdw        = 1.3

    coulombtype    = PME
    pme_order    = 4
    fourierspacing    = 0.16

    tcoupl        = V-rescale
    tc-grps        = GOL SOL
    tau_t        = 0.1 0.1
    ref_t        = 300 300

    pcoupl        = no

    pbc        = xyz

    DispCorr    = EnerPres

    gen_vel        = yes
    gen_temp    = 300
    gen_seed    = -1
    ===========================

    where "GOL" refers to GlycerOL.

    $ mdrun -v -deffnm nvt

    When I execute the above command, I get numerous errors of the following
    type:

    ===============================================================
    Step 0, time 0 (ps)  LINCS WARNING
    relative constraint deviation after LINCS:
    rms 0.326337, max 0.500490 (between atoms 1 and 3)
    bonds that rotated more than 30 degrees:
     atom 1 atom 2  angle  previous, current, constraint length
    starting mdrun 'glycerol.pdb in water'
    5000 steps,     10.0 ps.

    Step 0, time 0 (ps)  LINCS WARNING
    relative constraint deviation after LINCS:
    rms 0.663850, max 1.227203 (between atoms 1 and 7)
    bonds that rotated more than 30 degrees:
     atom 1 atom 2  angle  previous, current, constraint length
          1      3  172.3    0.2091   0.1644      0.2004
          7      9  164.1    0.2082   0.1625      0.2004
          2      3  124.5    0.1022   0.0787      0.1000
          1      2  148.3    0.1477   0.0882      0.1435
          5      6   30.4    0.0992   0.1265      0.1000
          8      9  134.1    0.1014   0.0660      0.1000
          7      8  138.2    0.1476   0.0991      0.1435

    Warning: 1-4 interaction between 2 and 7 at distance 6.002 which is
    larger
    than the 1-4 table size 2.300 nm
    These are ignored for the rest of the simulation
    This usually means your system is exploding,
    if not, you should increase table-extension in your mdp file
    or with user tables increase the table size

    t = 0.004 ps: Water molecule starting at atom 1234 can not be settled.
    Check for bad contacts and/or reduce the timestep.
    Wrote pdb files with previous and current coordinates

    There were 12 inconsistent shifts. Check your topology
    Segmentation fault
    ===============================================================

    I don't know what is happening wrong.  Please advise.

    Thank you.

    Nancy


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

Justin A. Lemkul
Ph.D. Candidate
ICTAS Doctoral Scholar
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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