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Molecular Programming Software Tools

Molecular Modeling and Simulation

  • GROMACS - Molecular dynamics package primarily designed for simulations of proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids.
  • NAMD - High-performance molecular dynamics program designed for large biomolecular systems.
  • LAMMPS - Molecular dynamics software for simulating atoms or molecules, with a focus on materials science.
  • AMBER - Software package for molecular dynamics of biomolecules, commonly used for proteins and nucleic acids.
  • CHARMM - Chemistry at HARvard Macromolecular Mechanics for molecular dynamics simulations.

Quantum Chemistry and Electronic Structure

  • Gaussian - Software for computational chemistry and quantum mechanical calculations.
  • ORCA - Electronic structure package with a focus on ab initio quantum chemistry calculations.
  • Q-Chem - Comprehensive quantum chemistry package for electronic structure calculations.
  • GAMESS - General Atomic and Molecular Electronic Structure System for ab initio quantum chemistry.

DNA and RNA Nanotechnology

  • NUPACK - Suite for nucleic acid sequence design, analysis, and simulation of DNA and RNA structures.
  • ViennaRNA - RNA secondary structure prediction and comparison tools based on dynamic programming.
  • Mfold - Software for RNA and DNA secondary structure prediction.
  • Unafold - Software for nucleic acid folding, hybridization prediction, and melting temperature calculations.

DNA Strand Displacement

  • Dsd - DNA strand displacement modeling and analysis tool for designing and analyzing DNA strand displacement reactions.
  • Visual DSD - Microsoft’s visual design tool for DNA strand displacement systems, supporting the design and simulation of DNA-based computational circuits.
  • Peppercorn - Tool for analyzing DNA strand displacement reactions through thermodynamic analysis and reaction pathways.

Molecular Design and Synthetic Biology

  • Cello - Genetic circuit design tool that converts high-level logic to DNA sequences.
  • GENE Designer - Tool for designing synthetic DNA sequences with complex regulatory structures.
  • Benchling - Cloud-based platform for DNA sequence analysis, CRISPR design, and other molecular biology applications.

Protein Design

  • Rosetta - Suite for protein structure prediction, design, and protein-ligand docking.
  • FoldX - Tool for protein design and stability analysis, assessing the impact of mutations on protein structure.
  • Phenix - Comprehensive software suite for macromolecular structure determination through X-ray crystallography and cryo-EM.

Visualization

  • PyMOL - Molecular visualization system used for 3D rendering of small molecules and biological macromolecules.
  • Chimera - Visualization and analysis software for interactive molecular modeling.
  • VMD (Visual Molecular Dynamics) - Tool for displaying and analyzing molecular dynamics simulations and molecular structures.

DNA/Protein Structure Analysis

  • BLAST - Basic Local Alignment Search Tool for comparing biological sequences.
  • Clustal Omega - Tool for multiple sequence alignment of DNA, RNA, or protein sequences.
  • HMMER - Software for searching sequence databases with protein or nucleotide sequence profiles.

Synthetic Biology and Metabolic Pathway Engineering

  • COBRA Toolbox - MATLAB-based toolbox for constraint-based analysis of genome-scale models in systems biology.
  • SynBioCAD - Computer-aided design tool for synthetic biology workflows, including metabolic pathway design.
  • OptFlux - Software for metabolic engineering simulation and optimization based on stoichiometric models.