xjtulyc/mdanalysis-trajectory

MDAnalysis Trajectory Analysis

Parse and analyze molecular dynamics (MD) trajectories from GROMACS, AMBER, LAMMPS, and NAMD simulations using MDAnalysis. This skill covers RMSD/RMSF computation, hydrogen bond tracking, contact map generation, and protein-ligand distance analysis with publication-ready matplotlib visualizations.

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When to Use This Skill

• You have an MD trajectory file (.xtc, .trr, .dcd, .nc, .lammpstrj) and want to extract quantitative structural metrics.
• You need to compute RMSD (global fold stability) or RMSF (per-residue flexibility) over a simulation.
• You want to enumerate hydrogen bonds between protein and ligand or between secondary-structure elements.
• You need a contact map or residue-residue distance matrix to identify persistent interactions.
• You are measuring protein-ligand binding pocket distances to assess whether a ligand stays bound throughout the simulation.
• You want to export per-frame structural data to a pandas DataFrame for downstream statistical analysis.

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Background & Key Concepts

Universe and AtomGroup

MDAnalysis represents a simulation as a Universe object that couples a topology file (connectivity, residue names, charges) with one or more trajectory files (coordinate frames). Selections of atoms are returned as AtomGroup objects, which support arithmetic, boolean masks, and iteration.

import MDAnalysis as mda
u = mda.Universe("topology.tpr", "trajectory.xtc")
protein = u.select_atoms("protein")

Trajectory Iteration

Iterating over u.trajectory moves the Universe to successive frames. All AtomGroup.positions arrays are updated automatically — no manual frame loading is required.

for ts in u.trajectory:
    # ts.time is in ps; ts.frame is the 0-based frame index
    coords = protein.positions  # (N, 3) float32 array, angstroms

RMSD vs RMSF

| Metric | Domain | Measures | |--------|----------|---------------------------------------| | RMSD | per-frame | global deviation from a reference | | RMSF | per-atom | time-averaged fluctuation amplitude |

Both metrics require alignment (superposition) to remove overall rotation/translation before computing distances.

Hydrogen Bond Criteria

The default HBond criterion in MDAnalysis uses donor-acceptor distance ≤ 3.5 Å and donor-H-acceptor angle ≥ 150°. These thresholds can be tuned for non-standard force fields.

Contact Maps

A contact is defined when Cα–Cα distance (or heavy-atom distance) drops below a cutoff (typically 8 Å for Cα, 4.5 Å for heavy atoms). A contact map averaged over trajectory frames reveals stable structural contacts.

---

Environment Setup

Installation

# Create a dedicated conda environment (recommended)
conda create -n mdanalysis-env python=3.11 -y
conda activate mdanalysis-env

# Install MDAnalysis and visualization stack
pip install "MDAnalysis>=2.6" "matplotlib>=3.7" "numpy>=1.24" "pandas>=2.0" "scipy>=1.11"

# Optional: install MDAnalysisTests for sample data
pip install MDAnalysisTests

Verify Installation

import MDAnalysis as mda
print(mda.__version__)   # e.g. 2.6.1

import MDAnalysis.tests
from MDAnalysisTests.datafiles import PSF, DCD
u = mda.Universe(PSF, DCD)
print(f"Atoms: {u.atoms.n_atoms}, Frames: {u.trajectory.n_frames}")

Supported Formats

| Format | Topology | Trajectory | |--------|----------|------------| | GROMACS | .tpr, .gro | .xtc, .trr | | AMBER | .prmtop, .parm7 | .nc, .ncdf | | NAMD/CHARMM | .psf | .dcd | | LAMMPS | .data | .lammpstrj | | PDB/mmCIF | .pdb, .cif | — |

---

Core Workflow

Step 1 — Load Universe and Inspect Topology

import MDAnalysis as mda
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Replace with your actual files
TOPOLOGY  = "md_system.tpr"   # or .prmtop / .psf / .pdb
TRAJECTORY = "md_traj.xtc"    # or .dcd / .nc / .lammpstrj

u = mda.Universe(TOPOLOGY, TRAJECTORY)

print(f"Number of atoms   : {u.atoms.n_atoms}")
print(f"Number of residues: {u.residues.n_residues}")
print(f"Number of segments: {u.segments.n_segments}")
print(f"Number of frames  : {u.trajectory.n_frames}")
print(f"Time step (ps)    : {u.trajectory.dt:.3f}")
print(f"Total time (ns)   : {u.trajectory.totaltime / 1000:.2f}")

# Inspect segment / chain names
for seg in u.segments:
    print(f"  Segment {seg.segid}: {seg.atoms.n_atoms} atoms")

# Select key atom groups
protein  = u.select_atoms("protein")
backbone = u.select_atoms("backbone")
ligand   = u.select_atoms("resname LIG")   # adjust resname
water    = u.select_atoms("resname WAT SOL TIP3")

print(f"\nProtein atoms : {protein.n_atoms}")
print(f"Backbone atoms: {backbone.n_atoms}")
print(f"Ligand atoms  : {ligand.n_atoms}")

Step 2 — RMSD Calculation and Visualization

from MDAnalysis.analysis import rms, align

# --- Align trajectory to first frame (in-place) ---
aligner = align.AlignTraj(u, u, select="backbone", in_memory=False)
aligner.run()

# --- Compute RMSD for backbone and C-alpha ---
rmsd_analysis = rms.RMSD(
    u,
    select="backbone",
    groupselections=["backbone", "name CA"],
    ref_frame=0,
)
rmsd_analysis.run(verbose=True)

# Results array shape: (n_frames, 3+n_groups)
# Columns: frame, time(ps), backbone_rmsd, [group_rmsds...]
df_rmsd = pd.DataFrame(
    rmsd_analysis.results.rmsd[:, 1:],   # drop frame index column
    columns=["Time (ps)", "Backbone RMSD (Å)", "C-alpha RMSD (Å)"],
)
df_rmsd["Time (ns)"] = df_rmsd["Time (ps)"] / 1000.0

# --- Plot ---
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(10, 4))
ax.plot(df_rmsd["Time (ns)"], df_rmsd["Backbone RMSD (Å)"], label="Backbone", lw=1.5)
ax.plot(df_rmsd["Time (ns)"], df_rmsd["C-alpha RMSD (Å)"], label="Cα", lw=1.5, ls="--")
ax.set_xlabel("Time (ns)", fontsize=12)
ax.set_ylabel("RMSD (Å)", fontsize=12)
ax.set_title("Backbone and Cα RMSD over Simulation", fontsize=13)
ax.legend()
ax.grid(alpha=0.3)
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("rmsd_plot.png", dpi=150)
plt.show()

# Save data
df_rmsd.to_csv("rmsd_data.csv", index=False)
print("RMSD data saved to rmsd_data.csv")

Step 3 — RMSF Calculation (Per-Residue Flexibility)

from MDAnalysis.analysis import rms

# Compute RMSF on C-alpha atoms
ca_atoms = u.select_atoms("name CA")

rmsf_analysis = rms.RMSF(ca_atoms)
rmsf_analysis.run(verbose=True)

rmsf_values = rmsf_analysis.results.rmsf   # shape (n_CA,)
residue_ids = ca_atoms.resids
residue_names = ca_atoms.resnames

df_rmsf = pd.DataFrame({
    "ResID"  : residue_ids,
    "ResName": residue_names,
    "RMSF_A" : rmsf_values,
})

# Identify highly flexible residues (top 10%)
threshold = np.percentile(rmsf_values, 90)
flexible = df_rmsf[df_rmsf["RMSF_A"] >= threshold]
print(f"Highly flexible residues (RMSF >= {threshold:.2f} Å):")
print(flexible.to_string(index=False))

# --- Plot ---
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(12, 4))
ax.bar(df_rmsf["ResID"], df_rmsf["RMSF_A"], width=1.0, color="steelblue", alpha=0.8)
ax.axhline(threshold, color="red", ls="--", label=f"90th percentile ({threshold:.2f} Å)")
ax.set_xlabel("Residue ID", fontsize=12)
ax.set_ylabel("RMSF (Å)", fontsize=12)
ax.set_title("Per-Residue RMSF (Cα)", fontsize=13)
ax.legend()
ax.grid(axis="y", alpha=0.3)
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("rmsf_plot.png", dpi=150)
plt.show()

df_rmsf.to_csv("rmsf_data.csv", index=False)

Step 4 — Hydrogen Bond Analysis

from MDAnalysis.analysis.hydrogenbonds import HydrogenBondAnalysis

# Protein-ligand hydrogen bonds
hbond_analysis = HydrogenBondAnalysis(
    universe=u,
    donors_sel="(protein) and (name N* O*)",
    hydrogens_sel="(protein) and (name H*)",
    acceptors_sel="(resname LIG) and (name N* O* S*)",
    d_a_cutoff=3.5,          # donor-acceptor distance cutoff (Å)
    d_h_a_angle_cutoff=150,  # minimum donor-H-acceptor angle (degrees)
    update_selections=False,
)
hbond_analysis.run(verbose=True)

# Convert results to DataFrame
hb_df = hbond_analysis.results.hbonds
columns = ["Frame", "Donor_idx", "H_idx", "Acceptor_idx", "Distance", "Angle"]
df_hb = pd.DataFrame(hb_df, columns=columns)

# Compute occupancy (fraction of frames with each H-bond)
n_frames = u.trajectory.n_frames
hb_occupancy = (
    df_hb.groupby(["Donor_idx", "Acceptor_idx"])
    .size()
    .reset_index(name="Count")
)
hb_occupancy["Occupancy"] = hb_occupancy["Count"] / n_frames

# Resolve atom names
def atom_label(idx):
    atom = u.atoms[int(idx)]
    return f"{atom.resname}{atom.resid}:{atom.name}"

hb_occupancy["Donor_label"]    = hb_occupancy["Donor_idx"].apply(atom_label)
hb_occupancy["Acceptor_label"] = hb_occupancy["Acceptor_idx"].apply(atom_label)
hb_occupancy_sorted = hb_occupancy.sort_values("Occupancy", ascending=False)

print("\nTop hydrogen bonds by occupancy:")
print(hb_occupancy_sorted[["Donor_label", "Acceptor_label", "Occupancy"]].head(10).to_string(index=False))

# --- Plot ---
top10 = hb_occupancy_sorted.head(10)
labels = top10["Donor_label"] + " → " + top10["Acceptor_label"]
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(10, 5))
ax.barh(labels, top10["Occupancy"], color="coral")
ax.set_xlabel("Occupancy (fraction of frames)", fontsize=12)
ax.set_title("Top 10 Protein-Ligand Hydrogen Bonds", fontsize=13)
ax.invert_yaxis()
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("hbond_occupancy.png", dpi=150)
plt.show()

df_hb.to_csv("hbond_raw.csv", index=False)
hb_occupancy_sorted.to_csv("hbond_occupancy.csv", index=False)

Step 5 — Protein-Ligand Distance Tracking

import MDAnalysis as mda
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from MDAnalysis.lib.distances import calc_bonds

u = mda.Universe(TOPOLOGY, TRAJECTORY)
ligand  = u.select_atoms("resname LIG")
binding_residues = u.select_atoms("protein and resid 45 82 118 201")  # adjust resids

times, distances = [], []

for ts in u.trajectory:
    # Centroid of ligand heavy atoms
    lig_centroid = ligand.center_of_mass()
    # Centroid of binding pocket residues (Cα only)
    pocket_ca = binding_residues.select_atoms("name CA")
    pocket_centroid = pocket_ca.center_of_mass()
    dist = np.linalg.norm(lig_centroid - pocket_centroid)
    times.append(ts.time / 1000.0)   # ns
    distances.append(dist)

df_dist = pd.DataFrame({"Time (ns)": times, "Ligand-Pocket Distance (Å)": distances})

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(10, 4))
ax.plot(df_dist["Time (ns)"], df_dist["Ligand-Pocket Distance (Å)"], lw=1, color="darkgreen")
ax.axhline(8.0, color="red", ls="--", label="8 Å binding threshold")
ax.fill_between(df_dist["Time (ns)"], df_dist["Ligand-Pocket Distance (Å)"], 8.0,
                where=df_dist["Ligand-Pocket Distance (Å)"] > 8.0,
                alpha=0.2, color="red", label="Unbound region")
ax.set_xlabel("Time (ns)", fontsize=12)
ax.set_ylabel("Distance (Å)", fontsize=12)
ax.set_title("Protein-Ligand Binding Pocket Distance", fontsize=13)
ax.legend()
ax.grid(alpha=0.3)
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("ligand_distance.png", dpi=150)
plt.show()

df_dist.to_csv("ligand_distance.csv", index=False)

---

Advanced Usage

Contact Map from Average Trajectory

import MDAnalysis as mda
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from MDAnalysis.lib.distances import distance_array

u = mda.Universe(TOPOLOGY, TRAJECTORY)
ca = u.select_atoms("name CA")
n_res = ca.n_atoms
contact_cutoff = 8.0   # Å, Cα-Cα

# Accumulate contact frequency
contact_freq = np.zeros((n_res, n_res), dtype=np.float32)

for ts in u.trajectory:
    dist_matrix = distance_array(ca.positions, ca.positions, box=ts.dimensions)
    contact_freq += (dist_matrix < contact_cutoff).astype(np.float32)

contact_freq /= u.trajectory.n_frames  # normalize to occupancy [0, 1]

# Remove sequence-local contacts (|i-j| < 4) for clarity
for i in range(n_res):
    for j in range(max(0, i-3), min(n_res, i+4)):
        contact_freq[i, j] = 0.0

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8, 7))
im = ax.imshow(contact_freq, cmap="hot_r", origin="lower", vmin=0, vmax=1)
plt.colorbar(im, ax=ax, label="Contact Frequency")
ax.set_xlabel("Residue Index", fontsize=12)
ax.set_ylabel("Residue Index", fontsize=12)
ax.set_title(f"Cα Contact Map (cutoff={contact_cutoff} Å)", fontsize=13)
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("contact_map.png", dpi=150)
plt.show()

np.save("contact_map.npy", contact_freq)
print("Contact map saved.")

Radius of Gyration

import MDAnalysis as mda
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

u = mda.Universe(TOPOLOGY, TRAJECTORY)
protein = u.select_atoms("protein")

rog_data = []
for ts in u.trajectory:
    rog_data.append({
        "Time (ns)": ts.time / 1000.0,
        "Rg (Å)": protein.radius_of_gyration(),
    })

df_rog = pd.DataFrame(rog_data)

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(10, 4))
ax.plot(df_rog["Time (ns)"], df_rog["Rg (Å)"], lw=1.2, color="purple")
ax.set_xlabel("Time (ns)", fontsize=12)
ax.set_ylabel("Radius of Gyration (Å)", fontsize=12)
ax.set_title("Protein Radius of Gyration", fontsize=13)
ax.grid(alpha=0.3)
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("rg_plot.png", dpi=150)
plt.show()

df_rog.to_csv("radius_of_gyration.csv", index=False)

Principal Component Analysis of Trajectory

import MDAnalysis as mda
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from MDAnalysis.analysis import pca as mdapca

u = mda.Universe(TOPOLOGY, TRAJECTORY)

pc = mdapca.PCA(u, select="backbone", align=True, n_components=3)
pc.run(verbose=True)

# Project trajectory onto first 3 PCs
transformed = pc.transform(u.select_atoms("backbone"), n_components=3)
df_pca = pd.DataFrame(transformed, columns=["PC1", "PC2", "PC3"])
df_pca["Time (ns)"] = [ts.time / 1000.0 for ts in u.trajectory]

print(f"Variance explained: PC1={pc.results.variance_ratio[0]:.3f}, "
      f"PC2={pc.results.variance_ratio[1]:.3f}, "
      f"PC3={pc.results.variance_ratio[2]:.3f}")

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(7, 6))
sc = ax.scatter(df_pca["PC1"], df_pca["PC2"],
                c=df_pca["Time (ns)"], cmap="viridis", s=5, alpha=0.7)
plt.colorbar(sc, ax=ax, label="Time (ns)")
ax.set_xlabel(f"PC1 ({pc.results.variance_ratio[0]*100:.1f}%)", fontsize=12)
ax.set_ylabel(f"PC2 ({pc.results.variance_ratio[1]*100:.1f}%)", fontsize=12)
ax.set_title("PCA of Backbone Trajectory", fontsize=13)
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("pca_trajectory.png", dpi=150)
plt.show()

df_pca.to_csv("pca_projection.csv", index=False)

Dihedral Angle (Ramachandran) Analysis

import MDAnalysis as mda
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from MDAnalysis.analysis.dihedrals import Ramachandran

u = mda.Universe(TOPOLOGY, TRAJECTORY)
protein = u.select_atoms("protein")

rama = Ramachandran(protein).run(verbose=True)

# rama.results.angles shape: (n_frames, n_residues, 2)  [phi, psi] in degrees
phi_psi = rama.results.angles.reshape(-1, 2)  # flatten frames × residues

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(6, 6))
ax.scatter(phi_psi[:, 0], phi_psi[:, 1], s=0.5, alpha=0.1, color="navy")
ax.set_xlim(-180, 180)
ax.set_ylim(-180, 180)
ax.set_xlabel("Phi (°)", fontsize=12)
ax.set_ylabel("Psi (°)", fontsize=12)
ax.set_title("Ramachandran Plot", fontsize=13)
ax.axhline(0, color="gray", lw=0.5)
ax.axvline(0, color="gray", lw=0.5)
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("ramachandran.png", dpi=150)
plt.show()

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Troubleshooting

ImportError: No module named MDAnalysis

pip install "MDAnalysis>=2.6"
# On some systems you also need:
pip install "MDAnalysisTests>=2.6"

MemoryError with Large Trajectories

Use in_memory=False in AlignTraj and process frames in chunks:

import MDAnalysis as mda

u = mda.Universe(TOPOLOGY, TRAJECTORY)
chunk_size = 500   # frames per chunk

for start in range(0, u.trajectory.n_frames, chunk_size):
    stop = min(start + chunk_size, u.trajectory.n_frames)
    for ts in u.trajectory[start:stop]:
        pass   # process ts here

NoDataError: Universe has no bonds

Many trajectory formats strip bond information. Provide a topology file that contains bonds (.tpr, .prmtop, .psf) rather than a bare .pdb:

u = mda.Universe("system.tpr", "traj.xtc")   # bonds present in .tpr

Wrong PBC Wrapping (Molecules Split Across Box)

from MDAnalysis.transformations import wrap, unwrap

workflow = [
    unwrap(u.select_atoms("protein")),
    wrap(u.select_atoms("all"), compound="residues"),
]
u.trajectory.add_transformations(*workflow)

Slow Trajectory Iteration

Enable the built-in multi-core parallelism with AnalysisBase:

rmsd_analysis.run(n_jobs=4, verbose=True)   # uses multiprocessing

---

External Resources

• MDAnalysis Documentation: https://docs.mdanalysis.org
• MDAnalysis Tutorials: https://www.mdanalysis.org/MDAnalysisTutorial/
• GROMACS Manual: https://manual.gromacs.org
• AMBER Tutorials: https://ambermd.org/tutorials/
• MDAnalysis GitHub: https://github.com/MDAnalysis/mdanalysis
• UserGuide Selections: https://userguide.mdanalysis.org/stable/selections.html

---

Examples

Example 1 — Full RMSD/RMSF Pipeline with Sample Data

"""
Full pipeline using MDAnalysis built-in test data.
No external files needed — runs out of the box.
"""
import MDAnalysis as mda
from MDAnalysis.analysis import rms, align
from MDAnalysisTests.datafiles import PSF, DCD
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Load built-in test Universe (AdK protein, 98 frames)
u = mda.Universe(PSF, DCD)
print(f"System: {u.atoms.n_atoms} atoms, {u.trajectory.n_frames} frames")

# Step 1: Align trajectory to first frame
ref = mda.Universe(PSF, DCD)
aligner = align.AlignTraj(u, ref, select="backbone", in_memory=True)
aligner.run()

# Step 2: RMSD
rmsd_obj = rms.RMSD(u, select="backbone", ref_frame=0)
rmsd_obj.run()
rmsd_arr = rmsd_obj.results.rmsd   # (n_frames, 3)

# Step 3: RMSF
ca = u.select_atoms("name CA")
rmsf_obj = rms.RMSF(ca)
rmsf_obj.run()

# Step 4: Plot side by side
fig, (ax1, ax2) = plt.subplots(1, 2, figsize=(14, 4))

ax1.plot(rmsd_arr[:, 1] / 1000, rmsd_arr[:, 2], lw=1.5, color="steelblue")
ax1.set_xlabel("Time (ns)")
ax1.set_ylabel("RMSD (Å)")
ax1.set_title("Backbone RMSD")
ax1.grid(alpha=0.3)

ax2.bar(ca.resids, rmsf_obj.results.rmsf, width=1, color="coral", alpha=0.8)
ax2.set_xlabel("Residue ID")
ax2.set_ylabel("RMSF (Å)")
ax2.set_title("Per-Residue Cα RMSF")
ax2.grid(axis="y", alpha=0.3)

plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("adk_rmsd_rmsf.png", dpi=150)
plt.show()
print("Saved adk_rmsd_rmsf.png")

Example 2 — Protein-Ligand Contact Frequency Matrix

"""
Compute per-residue contact frequency with a ligand over a trajectory.
Requires your own topology + trajectory files.
"""
import MDAnalysis as mda
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from MDAnalysis.lib.distances import distance_array

TOPOLOGY   = "complex.tpr"
TRAJECTORY = "complex.xtc"
LIGAND_RESNAME = "LIG"
CONTACT_CUTOFF = 4.5   # Å heavy-atom cutoff

u = mda.Universe(TOPOLOGY, TRAJECTORY)
protein = u.select_atoms("protein")
ligand  = u.select_atoms(f"resname {LIGAND_RESNAME}")

if ligand.n_atoms == 0:
    raise ValueError(f"No atoms found with resname '{LIGAND_RESNAME}'. "
                     "Check your topology residue names.")

residues = protein.residues
n_res = len(residues)
contact_count = np.zeros(n_res, dtype=np.int32)

print(f"Protein residues: {n_res}, Ligand atoms: {ligand.n_atoms}")
print(f"Processing {u.trajectory.n_frames} frames...")

for ts in u.trajectory:
    lig_pos = ligand.positions
    for i, res in enumerate(residues):
        prot_heavy = res.atoms.select_atoms("not name H*")
        if prot_heavy.n_atoms == 0:
            continue
        dists = distance_array(prot_heavy.positions, lig_pos, box=ts.dimensions)
        if np.any(dists < CONTACT_CUTOFF):
            contact_count[i] += 1

contact_freq = contact_count / u.trajectory.n_frames

df_contacts = pd.DataFrame({
    "ResID"   : [r.resid for r in residues],
    "ResName" : [r.resname for r in residues],
    "Frequency": contact_freq,
})
df_contacts = df_contacts[df_contacts["Frequency"] > 0.05]  # filter < 5%

print("\nResidue-ligand contacts (frequency > 5%):")
print(df_contacts.sort_values("Frequency", ascending=False).to_string(index=False))

# Bar plot of contact frequencies
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(12, 4))
ax.bar(df_contacts["ResID"].astype(str), df_contacts["Frequency"],
       color="teal", alpha=0.85)
ax.set_xlabel("Residue ID", fontsize=12)
ax.set_ylabel("Contact Frequency", fontsize=12)
ax.set_title(f"Protein-Ligand ({LIGAND_RESNAME}) Contact Frequency (cutoff={CONTACT_CUTOFF} Å)", fontsize=13)
ax.axhline(0.5, color="red", ls="--", label="50% threshold")
ax.legend()
plt.xticks(rotation=45, ha="right")
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("ligand_contact_frequency.png", dpi=150)
plt.show()

df_contacts.to_csv("ligand_contacts.csv", index=False)
print("Saved ligand_contacts.csv and ligand_contact_frequency.png")

Example 3 — Hydrogen Bond Time Series for a Key Residue Pair

"""
Track the hydrogen bond distance between two specific residue atoms over time.
Useful for monitoring a known catalytic or allosteric interaction.
"""
import MDAnalysis as mda
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from MDAnalysis.lib.distances import calc_bonds

TOPOLOGY   = "system.tpr"
TRAJECTORY = "traj.xtc"

# Modify these to match your system
DONOR_SEL    = "resid 57 and name NE2"    # e.g. His57 NE2
ACCEPTOR_SEL = "resid 102 and name OD1"   # e.g. Asp102 OD1

u = mda.Universe(TOPOLOGY, TRAJECTORY)
donor    = u.select_atoms(DONOR_SEL)
acceptor = u.select_atoms(ACCEPTOR_SEL)

if donor.n_atoms != 1 or acceptor.n_atoms != 1:
    raise ValueError("Donor and acceptor selections must each return exactly 1 atom.")

times, dist_vals = [], []
for ts in u.trajectory:
    d = calc_bonds(donor.positions, acceptor.positions, box=ts.dimensions)[0]
    times.append(ts.time / 1000.0)
    dist_vals.append(float(d))

df_hbdist = pd.DataFrame({"Time (ns)": times, "D-A Distance (Å)": dist_vals})

# Fraction of frames with hydrogen bond (D-A < 3.5 Å)
hb_fraction = (df_hbdist["D-A Distance (Å)"] < 3.5).mean()
print(f"H-bond occupancy ({DONOR_SEL} -- {ACCEPTOR_SEL}): {hb_fraction:.3f}")

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(10, 4))
ax.plot(df_hbdist["Time (ns)"], df_hbdist["D-A Distance (Å)"], lw=0.8, color="navy")
ax.axhline(3.5, color="red", ls="--", label="H-bond cutoff (3.5 Å)")
ax.fill_between(df_hbdist["Time (ns)"], df_hbdist["D-A Distance (Å)"], 3.5,
                where=df_hbdist["D-A Distance (Å)"] < 3.5,
                alpha=0.15, color="green", label=f"H-bond formed ({hb_fraction:.0%})")
ax.set_xlabel("Time (ns)", fontsize=12)
ax.set_ylabel("Donor-Acceptor Distance (Å)", fontsize=12)
ax.set_title(f"Hydrogen Bond: {DONOR_SEL} ··· {ACCEPTOR_SEL}", fontsize=12)
ax.legend()
ax.grid(alpha=0.3)
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("hbond_timeseries.png", dpi=150)
plt.show()

df_hbdist.to_csv("hbond_timeseries.csv", index=False)
print("Saved hbond_timeseries.csv and hbond_timeseries.png")