Dwell time files

Dwell time files are ASCII files with the extension .dt. They are usually found in the main/simulations/dwell-times, main/traces_processing/dwell-times or main/transition-analysis/kinetic model analysis folders.

Table of contents

  1. Description
  2. File name
  3. Structure

Description

The dwell time files are written in ASCII format and contain state durations in the corresponding single molecule state trajectory.

They are created in the /simulations/dwell-times analysis sub-folder when exported from module Simulation, in trace_processing/dwell-times when exported from module Trace processing, or in /transition-analysis/kinetic model when exported from Transition analysis.

They are created when:

  • exporting simulated dwell times in panel Export options of module Simulation
  • exporting processed dwell times in window Export options of module Trace processing
  • exporting simulated dwell times in window Export options of module Transition analysis

File name

The file is named by the user during the export process. By default, when exported from modules Trace processing and Transition analysis, the file is named after the selected project file.

If the file contains dwell times for single trajectories, the file name is appended with the extension _mol[n]of[N], where [n] is the index of the molecule written in the file and [N] the total number of exported molecules. In any case, the file name is appended with the final extension _[Ddd] where [Ddd] is the data type written in the file.

Data types supported in dwell time files are:

  • I[i]-[L]: intensities in detection channel indexed [i] upon illumination with laser wavelength [L] nm
  • FRET[D]to[A]: FRET from donor emitter detected in channel indexed [D] to acceptor emitter detected in channel indexed [A]
  • S[D]to[A]: stoichiometry associated to donor emitter detected in channel indexed [D] and acceptor emitter detected in channel indexed [A]

Structure

Dwell times are organized column-wise with:

  • column dwell-time (second) containing state durations in second before transition
  • (optional) column molecule containing molecule indexes
  • column state containing state values or indexes before transition
  • column state after transition containing state values or indexes after transitions
dwell-time (second)	molecule	state	state after transition
5.189148e+00	1	2	3	
2.950692e+00	1	3	NaN	
1.861988e+01	2	2	3

The last value in column state after transition is set to NaN when the state after transition is unknown, e. g. when the last dwell time is truncated by the limited observation time.