afrc

The Analytical Flory Random Coil — a sequence-specific reference model for unfolded and intrinsically disordered proteins.

Overview

afrc implements the Analytical Flory Random Coil (AFRC): a closed-form, sequence-specific polymer model that reports the dimensions a polypeptide would adopt if it behaved as an ideal chain in a theta solvent (apparent scaling exponent of 0.5, no finite-size effects). Given only an amino acid sequence, it returns a wide range of polymeric properties — instantly and without running any simulations.

The AFRC is intended as a reference (null) model, not a predictor of real dimensions. Real unfolded-state dimensions depend on sequence-encoded chain–chain and chain–solvent interactions that the AFRC deliberately omits. Its value is as a fixed, sequence-matched touchstone: deviations of a simulation or experiment from the AFRC directly report sequence-specific intramolecular interactions, and normalising to the AFRC lets chains of different length and composition be compared on a common footing.

Alongside the AFRC, the package ships a family of classic analytical polymer models that share a common interface, so the same sequence can be compared against several reference frames.

Installation

afrc requires Python 3.10 or later (tested through Python 3.14) and depends only on NumPy and SciPy.

pip install afrc

Quick start

from afrc import AnalyticalFRC

# create an AnalyticalFRC object from a sequence
P = AnalyticalFRC('MEEPQSDPSVEPPLSQETFSDLWKLLPENNVLSPLPSQAMDDLMLSPDDI')

# ensemble-average dimensions (Angstroms)
mean_rg  = P.get_mean_radius_of_gyration()
mean_e2e = P.get_mean_end_to_end_distance()
mean_rh  = P.get_mean_hydrodynamic_radius()

# full probability distributions, returned as (distances, probabilities)
rg_r,  rg_p  = P.get_radius_of_gyration_distribution()
re_r,  re_p  = P.get_end_to_end_distribution()

# distribution of the distance between two specific residues
d_r, d_p = P.get_interresidue_distance_distribution(4, 20)

# whole-chain maps
distance_map = P.get_distance_map()
contact_map  = P.get_contact_map(15.0)   # contact fractions at a 15 A threshold

Polymer models included

Every model takes an amino acid sequence and exposes a common interface (get_end_to_end_distribution, get_mean_end_to_end_distance, ...), so they can be swapped in and compared directly.

The full mathematical formalism, parameters, and usage examples for each model are in the documentation.

Google Colab

Use the AFRC (and the other polymer models) directly in a Google Colab notebook.

Documentation

Full documentation — including a theory section (formalism, parameters, references) and an application section (usage examples and code reference) for every model — is hosted at afrc.readthedocs.io. Worked, plotted examples for each model are in the demo/ directory.

Citation

If you use the AFRC in your work, please cite:

Alston, J. J., Ginell, G. M., Soranno, A., & Holehouse, A. S. (2023). The Analytical Flory Random Coil is a simple-to-use reference model for unfolded and disordered proteins. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 127(21), 4746–4760. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.3c01619

Help and contributing

If you find a bug or have a feature request, please open an issue on GitHub.

Authors

The AFRC was developed by Garrett Ginell, Jhullian Alston, and Alex Holehouse in the Holehouse Lab.

License

Distributed by the Holehouse Lab under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL v3).

References

• Alston, J. J., Ginell, G. M., Soranno, A., & Holehouse, A. S. (2023). The Analytical Flory Random Coil is a simple-to-use reference model for unfolded and disordered proteins. J. Phys. Chem. B, 127(21), 4746–4760.
• Flory, P. J. (1969). Statistical Mechanics of Chain Molecules. Wiley-Interscience.
• Mao, A. H., Lyle, N., & Pappu, R. V. (2013). Describing sequence–ensemble relationships for intrinsically disordered proteins. Biochemical Journal, 449(2), 307–318.