phenix.map_box: extract box with model and map around selected atoms

Description

The program carves out a box with model and map around selected atoms. Resulting map is output in three files: map coefficients in MTZ, and maps in CCP4 and X-plor formatted files.

Contact author

For questions, bug reports, feature requests: Pavel Afonine (PAfonine@lbl.gov)

Usage examples

  1. Using a map defined in MTZ file as Fourier map coefficients. Box is defined by selected atoms in residues from 1 to 10 in chain A

    phenix.map_box model.pdb map_coefficients.mtz selection="chain A and resseq 1:10"

  2. Using a CCP4/mrc formatted map.

    phenix.map_box model.pdb map.ccp4 selection="resname LIG"

    Note that by default map_box chooses a rectangular box that is a little bigger than your model. If you want the map to be zeroed out away from your model you can use the keyword mask_atoms=True.

  3. Extract unique part of a map. You can extract just the unique part of a map (unique based on map symmetry). This map is masked around high density. It will normally only have positive density and lower density parts of even the unique part are truncated. Note that if you want to sharpen the map, you must sharpen it before you extract the unique part. You should not sharpen a map file created with extract_unique because the extract_unique function creates a map that has been set to zero over much of the map and this interferes with auto-sharpen.

    phenix.map_box map.ccp4 extract_unique=True symmetry.ncs_spec resolution=3

  4. Shift origin of a map. You can shift the origin of a map (redefine where in the unit_cell box the map goes). Normally you need to also specify the the map size should remain the same.

    You can specify the origin directly:

    phenix.map_box map.ccp4 keep_map_size=True prefix=map_origin_shifted

    output_origin_grid_units=3,5,7

    You can also specify the origin to be (0,0,0) with keep_origin=False:

    phenix.map_box map.ccp4 keep_map_size=True prefix=map_origin_shifted

    keep_origin=False

    You can also specify that the origin should match the origin of some other file. If you do this you have to use the keyword ccp4_map_file for the map to be shifted and output_origin_match_this_file for the one to match:

    phenix.map_box ccp4_map_file=map.ccp4 keep_map_size=True

    prefix=map_origin_shifted output_origin_match_this_file=map_with_origin_to_match.ccp4

  5. Cut out a part of a map to match some other map. You can say:

    phenix.map_box ccp4_map_file=map.ccp4

    prefix=map_boxed bounds_match_this_file=map_with_bounds_to_match.ccp4

Notes

  1. By default the output map will superimpose on the input map (keep_origin=True). The output map is normally smaller than the input map. For example, the input map might go from (0,0,0) to (100,100,100) and the output map might include only grid points from (50,50,50) to (100,100,100). The origin of the output map in this case will be (50,50,50). If the two maps are displayed, the region from (50,50,50) to (100,100,100) will be the same for the two maps. Not that anything outside of this range is meaningless for the output map.

  2. The cell dimensions of the output map will be the dimensions of the part that is cut out. In the above example, if the starting unit cell was (200,200,200) then be output map will have a unit cell of (100,100,100).

  3. Some maps may have a special tag called external_origin. In the map file it is called ORIGIN. This is different than the origin of the map, which specifies the grid point that corresponds to the first element in the map. The external_origin tells display programs how to shift a model in order to match the map. Phenix ignores the external_origin tag. If you want to see what its value is, you can use phenix.show_map_info to display characteristics of our map. If you want to remove the external_origin tag from your map, you can run map_box with "keep_map_size=True" and it will write out the same map but without the external_origin tag. If you want to shift a model to match your map, and the map has an external_origin tag, you can use the tool phenix.shift_model_to_match_map (command-line only).

  4. How map gridding is described in mrc/ccp4 format.

    Map specifications. A full map is defined for a full box or unit cell, however in many cases only a part of that map is present. The full map is on a grid of 'unit cell grid' which corresponds to one unit cell (box) with dimensions of 'unit cell parameters'.

    The map that is present is on part of the 'unit cell grid'. It starts at the grid point called the 'origin' and goes to one grid point in each direction before the grid point called 'last'. The map that is present has 'all' grid points in each direction. The map that is present has a 'map unit cell' and 'map grid' that correspond to the dimensions 'all'.

    Example: a full map with a unit cell grid of (10, 10, 10) goes from (0, 0, 0) to (9, 9, 9) and has dimensions of (10, 10, 10).

    Example: a partial map with a unit cell grid of (10,10,10) and an origin of (0, 0, 2) and a map grid or 'all' of (6, 6, 6), would go from (0, 0, 2) to (5, 5, 7).

  5. Ignoring symmetry conflicts. If you cut out a part of a map, then the new map will have a box size that is different from the orginal one. If that box size does not match the box size for your PDB file or other map, then you may get an error message that says the symmetry of the maps or map and model is not the same. You can ignore this with the keyword ignore_symmetry_conflicts=True.

  6. Running map_box with bounds that are outside the map. You can specify any lower and upper bounds for your output map, but if the bounds are outside the map you supply the values may not make any sense. By default the map you supply is wrapped so that the value for a point outside the map is taken from the grid point that would be in this place if another copy of the map were placed right next to your map. You can turn this off and instead supply zeroes outside the map with the keyword restrict_map_size=True.

List of all parameters