Import & Export

Catana offers various import and export options, facilitating interoperability with other tools.

Import file formats

The most important input file formats supported by Catana are:

• All-atom structures: PDB, PDBx/mmCIF, SDF, MMTF
• Coarse-grained structures: UNF, Cadnano JSON

The structures itself can be either uploaded by the user or imported directly from the RCSB database or AlphaFold Protein Structure Database.

Export file formats

Catana can export data in four formats:

• PDB file: structures loaded into Catana can be further exported in a PDB format, potentially combining multiple source structures in one file.
• UNF file: thanks to this format, Catana can export whole molecular scenes, even those combining all-atom and coarse-grained structures, in one file.
• FASTA file: Catana can export FASTA files storing sequences of the selected structures.
• PNG file: in order to allow generation of structural images and publication figures, Catana provides means of customizable screenshot generation.

As for combining multiple structures during export, the Structure - Export dialogue allows the users to hold Ctrl key and select multiple structures to be merged together an exported as one file, allowing to export the whole superassembly as one PDB file, for example.