Segmenting cryo-EM maps with segment_and_split_map

Author(s)

Purpose

The routine segment_and_split_map will identify the asymmetric unit of a map (typically cryo-EM) and contiguous regions of density within the asymmetric unit of the map.

Usage

How segment_and_split_map works:

If you have a CCP4-style (mrc, etc) map and a sequence file, you can use segment_and_split_map to split the map into smaller pieces suitable for model-building or viewing.

The segment_and_split_map tool works best at resolutions of about 4.5 A or better.

The tool segment_and_split_map will will find where your molecule is in the map and cut out and work with just that part of the density.

If your map has been averaged based on NCS symmetry and you supply a file with that NCS information (.ncs_spec, biomtr.dat, etc), segment_and_split_map will find the asymmetric unit of NCS and work with that.

Finally, the segment_and_split_map tool will cut the density in the asymmetic unit of your map into small pieces of connected density and write out a map for each one.

All the maps that are written by segment_and_split_map are superimposable on each other. They typically are all shifted from the original map to place the origin of the maps on the grid point (0,0,0).

Output files from segment_and_split_map

shifted_map.ccp4: Original map, shifted to place the origin on grid point (0,0,)

shifted_ncs.ncs_spec: NCS operators (if any), shifted to match shifted_map.ccp4.

shifted_pdb.pdb: Input PDB file (if any), shifted to match shifted_map.ccp4.

box_map_au.ccp4: Same as shifted_map.ccp4, except that everything except the asymmetric unit of NCS is zeroed out (map shows the asymmetric unit only).

box_mask_au.ccp4: Mask showing location of NCS asymmetric unit. Superimposes on box_map_au.ccp4 and shifted_map.ccp4.

segment_and_split_map_info.pkl: Pickled file with information about the segmentation. Used in phenix.map_to_model and to restore a shifted PDB file to original location.

Shifting the map to the origin

Most crystallographic maps have the origin at the corner of the map ( grid point [0,0,0]), while most cryo-EM maps have the orgin in the middle of the map. To make a consistent map, any maps with an origin not at the corner are shifted to put the origin at grid point [0,0,0]. This map is the shifted map that is used for further steps in model-building. At the conclusion of model-building, the model is shifted back to superimpose on the original map.

Finding the region containing the molecule

By default (density_select=True), the region of the map containing density is cut out of the entire map. This is particularly useful if the original map is very large and the molecule only takes up a small part of the map. This portion of the map is then shifted to place the origin at grid point [0,0,0]. (At the conclusion of model-building, the final model is shifted back to superimpose on the original map.) The region containing density is chosen as a box containing all the points above a threshold, typically 5% of the maximum in the map.

Finding the NCS asymmetric unit of the map

If you supply NCS matrices describing the NCS used to average the map (if any), then segment_and_split_map will try to define a region of the map that represents the NCS asymmetric unit. Application of the NCS operators to the NCS asymmetric unit will generate the entire map, and application to a model built into the asymmetric unit will generate the entire model. Normally identification of the NCS asymmetric unit and segmentation of the map (below) are done as a single step, yielding an asymmetric unit and a set of contiguous regions of density within that asymmetric unit. The asymmetric unit of NCS will be written out as a map to the segmentation_dir directory, superimposed on the shifted map (so that they can be viewed together in Coot).

Segmentation of the map

By default (segment=True) the map or NCS asymmetric unit of the map will be segmented (cut into small pieces) into regions of connected density. This is done by choosing a threshold of density and identifying contiguous regions where all grid points are above this threshold. The threshold is chosen to yield regions that have a size corresponding to about 50 residues. The regions of density are written out to the segmentation_dir directory and are superimposed on the shifted map (if you load the shifted map in Coot and a region map in Coot, they should superimpose.)

Special treatment of structures with very high symmetry

If your structure has very high symmetry (by default, 20 or more symmetry operators), then segment_and_split_map will try to cut out a piece of your map and work with that instead of working with the whole map. You can control this with the keyword select_au_box=True (or None, which will give the default behavior). If you use select_au_box then a box that contains about n_au_box asymmetric units of the map (default of 5) will be cut out of your map. That map will be worked with along with the symmetry operators that apply to it for the remainder of the analysis. placed in the original reference frame. This process can greatly save on memory.

Examples

Standard run of segment_and_split_map:

Running segment_and_split_map is easy. From the command-line you can type:

phenix.segment\_and\_split\_map my_map.map seq.fa ncs_file=find_ncs.ncs_spec

where my_map.map is a CCP4, mrc or other related map format, seq.fa is a sequence file, and find_ncs.ncs_spec is an optional file specifying any NCS operators used in averaging the map. This can be in the form of BIOMTR records from a PDB file as well.

Possible Problems

Specific limitations and problems:

Literature

Additional information

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