Trajectory maps: molecular dynamics visualization and analysis

Abstract

Molecular dynamics simulations generate trajectories that depict system's evolution in time and are analyzed visually and quantitatively. Commonly conducted analyses include RMSD, Rgyr, RMSF, and more. However, those methods are all limited by their strictly statistical nature. Here we present trajectory maps, a novel method to analyze and visualize protein simulation courses intuitively and conclusively. By plotting protein's backbone movements during the simulation as a heatmap, trajectory maps provide new tools to directly visualize protein behavior over time, compare multiple simulations, and complement established methods. A user-friendly Python application developed for this purpose is presented, alongside detailed documentation for easy usage and implementation. The method's validation is demonstrated on three case studies. Considering its benefits, trajectory maps are expected to adopt broad application in obtaining and communicating meaningful results of protein molecular dynamics simulations in many associated fields such as biochemistry, structural biology, pharmaceutical research etc.