I am an undergraduate student at Haverford College and I am attempting to attach thiocyanate probes onto different sites along a protein by first replacing the existing amino acid with a cysteine and then by adding a C and N onto the S- of the Cys residue. I know it is possible to carry this out manually using Tools>Structure Editing>Modify Structure, but I am hoping to automate this process by calling an external .py script that will primarily contain a list of preexisting Chimera commands. 

I have been successful at converting the targeted amino acid to Cys using "swapaa," building a CN residue called MSCN (using the createMolecule.py as a guide), combining the two models into one ("combine selected close True") and forming a bond between the Cys S and CN C atoms ("bond").

At this point, I am seeking help in automating the renaming of the modified residue to MSCN. Currently, Chimera sees this residue as two different separate residues called CYS and MSCN. Is there a way to combine these two structures so that the label corresponds to MSCN and the residue number corresponds to CYS? 

Sincerely,

Shana Burstein

Haverford College '15