Available Instruments for Analyzing Molecular Dynamics Trajectories

Abstract

Molecular dynamics trajectories are the result of molecular dynamics simulations. Trajectories are sequential snapshots of simulated molecular system which represents atomic coordinates at specific time periods. Based on the definition, in a text format trajectory files are characterized by their simplicity and uselessness. To obtain information from such files, special programs and information processing techniques are applied: from molecular dynamics animation to finding characteristics along the trajectory (versus time). In this review, we describe different programs for processing molecular dynamics trajectories. The performance of these programs, usefulness for analyses of molecular dynamics trajectories, strong and weak aspects are discussed.