ESBTL: efficient PDB parser and data structure for the structural and geometric analysis of biological macromolecules.

Abstract

The ever increasing number of structural biological data calls for robust and efficient software for analysis. Easy Structural Biology Template Library (ESBTL) is a lightweight C++ library that allows the handling of PDB data and provides a data structure suitable for geometric constructions and analyses. The parser and data model provided by this ready-to-use include-only library allows adequate treatment of usually discarded information (insertion code, atom occupancy, etc.) while still being able to detect badly formatted files. The template-based structure allows rapid design of new computational structural biology applications and is fully compatible with the new remediated PDB archive format. It also allows the code to be easy-to-use while being versatile enough to allow advanced user developments. ESBTL is freely available under the GNU General Public License from http://esbtl.sf.net. The web site provides the source code, examples, code snippets and documentation.