CIonize (short for "coulombic ionize") is a threaded program for placing counterions near a biological molecule in preparation for molecular dynamics simulations. In this case, placement is performed by calculating the coulombic potential due to the molecule in the nearby volume, and placing ions at points of minimal energy. After each ion is placed, the potential is updated, so that subsequent ions will be placed in response to this. Unlike some ion placement tools, ionize should be used prior to solvation so that the potential from unequilibrated water does not interfere with it (the addition of water would also make the energy calculations even more time consuming). Ionize is designed to be used on multiple processors; it uses a pthreads parallel implementation to run on shared memory machines (any traditional multiprocessor machine, or shared memory clusters such as an SGI Altix). After ionize is finished, you should solvate your system normally.
CIonize is now built as part of the VMD plugin distribution.
Please contact the authors with any questions or comments.
CIonize requires as input a file of the molecule to have ions added in a format that includes charges, and will output a file containing the ion coordinates. Running the ionize executable with no arguments will bring up a short list of possible options, which is reproduced below:
cionize: Place ions by finding minima in a coulombic potential
Usage: cionize (-p numprocs) (-i configfile) (-m calctype) (-f inputformat) inputfile
-i inputfile (stdin)
-p max_processors (1)
-m calctype (Defaults to single precision; can be double for double precision or multigrid to use multilevel summation)
-f Input file format (guesses from extension if not given)
Note that the -p switch specifies the maximum number of processors to be used by ionize, but it will not try to exceed the maximum number available (for example, the number allocated on an Altix run).
Once cionize has been started, commands may be either read from an input
file (specified by the -i switch) or from standard input (in which case the
ionize run will be interactive). Any given ionize run consists of two phases:
before and after the calculation of a coulombic energy grid. At any point
the user may enter the command HELP
to get a list of current options (these
options are also outlined below). In the initial phase of the program, which
lasts until the BEGIN
keyword is entered, the parameters of the calculation
may be modified, and a previously calculated energy grid (in the dx format)
may be specified. When the BEGIN
keyword is given, the energy grid will be
calculated (unless a previously calculated grid was input), and the program
will pass to a mode where ions will be placed.
When in this second mode, users may place ions, save the previous batch of
ions to a pdb file, or save the current energy grid (which incorporates the
effects of ions placed up until that point) to a dx file. Note that placing
ions does not automatically save them; a separate command is required for
this. The ion placement mode will last until the EXIT
keyword is specified
or the program encounters an EOF in the input.
In all cases, value
represents a required argument, and (value)
and optional argument. Input keywords are not case sensitive, but arguments
such as filenames are.
R_ION_SOLUTE r
-- Minimum ion-solute distanceR_ION_ION r
--Minimum ion-ion distanceBORDERSIZE distance
--Distance beyond solute to extend calculationsGRIDSPACING spacing
--Grid density in angstromsGRIDFILE file
--Use energy grid from the specified file instead of calculating a new oneXYZDIM xmin ymin zmin xmax ymax zmax
--Override molecule dimensions and calculate grid between the specified pointsSHOWOPT
--Show the values of current settingsBEGIN
--Calculate the energy grid with the existing parametersSAVEGRID file
--Save current energy grid to a dx filePLACEION ionname n ioncharge
--Place a set of n ions using the current gridSAVEION (filetype) file
--Save the most recently placed batch of ions
to a file. If filetype
is ommitted, it is guessed from the extension. of file