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Importing and Exporting Files

LigandScout supports commonly used file formats as well as its own file formats to exchange information. As the main focus of LigandScout is drug development and pharmacophore modeling, all file formats either deal with molecular data, pharmacophore models, or display-related information.

Importing Files

The File menu provides two possibilities to import data: the Open command (CTRL+O) and the Insert command (CTRL+I). Both trigger the display of the file dialog that facilitates the import of files that are being loaded into the current view, whereas the former clears the view first.
Open file dialog
Figure 3.1. Open file dialog

The supported import file formats can be differentiated into LigandScout, molecule and other file formats. The following table gives an overview of the file formats including name and file extension list.
File Format Name Extension(s)
LigandScout Library in Local Database .ldb
  Ligand Set Description .lsd
  Pharmaceutical Markup Language .pml
  Compressed Pharmaceutical Markup Language .pmz
  Session .ses
Molecule MDL Molfile .mol
  Tripos Sybyl MOL2 Molecule .mol2
  MDL Structure-Data .sd .sdf
  GZip Compressed MDL Structure-Data .sd.gz .sdf.gz
  Zip Compressed MDL Structure-Data .sd.zip .sdf.zip
  Daylight Chemical SMILES String .smi
Other Protein Data Bank (PDB) .pdb .ent
  GZip Compressed Protein Data Bank (PDB) .pdb.gz .ent.gz
  Zip Compressed Protein Data Bank (PDB) .pdb.zip .ent.zip
  Molecular Discovery GRID .kont
Table 3.1. Supported import file formats

The PDB file format provides 3D information about the macromolecule from X-ray or NMR sources. This data plays an important role in deriving a pharmacophore model representing the bound state of a ligand inside a protein binding pocket. The Molfile characterizes a single molecular structure whereas SD(F) and MOL2 files can store more than one molecule (molecule library). In LigandScout, a single molecule can be used to create a pharmacophore model or to align to other molecules/pharmacophores. The latter allows LigandScout to import compound collections. For instance investigations of these ligands with respect to their protein environment, and also for generating pharmacophores based on docking poses. Moreover, LigandScout can filter molecules from a molecule library that fulfill a desired pharmacophoric pattern. Compared to the other file formats, SMILES files represent only the 2D depiction of the molecules. The 2D View of LigandScout uses the 2D information of the ligand to visualize the derived pharmacophoric features.
The PML file format can be stored and opened with different combinations of content elements, for instance a pharmacophore of a ligand-protein complex or alignments of molecules. The PMZ format contains the compressed PML data. The LSD file format is used in the Ligand-Based Modeling Perspective to generate pharmacophores from a set of ligands. The LDB file format are used to store/load molecule libraries. This can be useful for investigations of compounds with respect to their protein environment, and also for generating pharmacophores based on docking poses. For more information on advanced export settings, see also the section called “Advanced Export Settings” .
The GRID Map file format can be imported to LigandScout to analyze energetically favorable regions in the binding pocket of a protein. For more information about this topic, please see the section called “GRID Maps Visualization” .

Exporting Files

LigandScout supports data export in several chemical and graphical file formats. Use the command (CTRL+SHIFT+S) in the menu File > Save as File which enables you to save your macromolecule, ligand modifications, and pharmacophore models. A session can be stored in the menu File > Sessions > Save as File . Depending on the selected file format and content, the Save File dialog provides advanced export settings .
Save file dialog
Figure 3.2. Save file dialog

The following table gives you a summary of the supported export file formats together with which data of your work that can be exported in a particular format. Each format facilitates the export of certain information: molecules (M), ligand environment (E), pharmacophore models (P), and the current content of either 3D View or 2D View (V).
File Format Name Extension(s) M E P V
LigandScout Compressed Pharmaceutical Markup Language .pmz x x x  
  Pharmaceutical Markup Language .pml x x x  
  Ligand Set Description .lsd x   x  
  Library in Local Database .ldb x      
  Session .ses x x x  
Molecule Daylight Chemical Smiles String .smi x      
  MDL Structure-Data .sd .sdf x      
  GZip Compressed MDL Structure-Data .sd.gz .sdf.gz x      
  Zip Compressed MDL Structure-Data .sd.zip .sdf.zip x      
  Maestro Molecule .mae x      
  MDL Molfile .mol x      
  Tripos Sybyl MOL2 Molecule .mol2 x      
Pharmacophore Catalyst Hypoedit Script .hypoedit     x  
  Fred 2 Constraint Map .fred2map     x  
  Phase Files .xyz .xvol .def .mae     x  
  CCG MOE Format .ph4     x  
Image Encapsulated PostScript .eps       x
  Graphics Interchange Format .gif       x
  Joint Photographers Expert Group Format .jpg       x
  MacroMedia Flash File Format .swf       x
  POV-Ray Scene Desription .pov       x
  Portable Document Format .pdf       x
  Portable Network Graphics Format .png       x
  PostScript .ps       x
  RAW Image .raw       x
  Scalable Vector Graphics .svg       x
  GZip Compressed Scalable Vector Graphics .svgz       x
  UNIX Portable PixMap .ppm       x
  Windows Enhanced Metafile .emf       x
Other Protein Data Bank (PDB) .pdb .ent x x    
  GZip Compressed Protein Data Bank (PDB) .pdb.gz .ent.gz x x    
  Zip Compressed Protein Data Bank (PDB) .pdb.zip .ent.zip x x    
Table 3.2. Supported export file formats

Advanced Export Settings

LigandScout has its own file format, called PML. The advantage of this format is that the user can select the available export content individually or in combination (ligand, environment, pharmacophore, conformers, injected molecules, and tautomers).
LigandScout offers you the possibility to export LigandScout's pharmacophore models so that you can use them in other external programs like Catalyst, MOE and Phase (see the section called “Preparing a Pharmacophore for Virtual Screening with External Applications” ).
You can save your content as PDB or ENT file format if you want to export the ligand, environment and include hydrogen information. The SMILES string of molecules can also be exported as SMI files. You can include in the files the canonical order of ligand atoms and/or stereo chemical properties. Single molecules can be stored in mol files, as 2D or 3D data. Additionally, stereo-chemical properties can be saved optionally.
The storage of a molecule library in LDB, MOL(2) and SD(F) files can be customized. You can export a Complete library or a part of it. A subset of a library can be chosen by filtering your library according to a property (e.g. by an occurring name), marking molecules or by visible molecules only. If you want to export the properties of your library table, choose the Write properties option. The MOL2 and SD(F) file formats offer you additionally the possibility to Write all conformations or Write 2D/3D coordinates of the (selected) molecules in the library.
If you want to export currently displayed content as an image file (e.g. gif, svg, etc.) you can choose between the 2D or 3D View. The 2D content can be saved as it is by the Keep current layout or you can automatically store it as horizontal/vertical layout . After a screening run, you can export the ROC plot as image. The image size can be set in both 2D and 3D.

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Page designed & authored by G. Wolber

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