[PyMOL] getting color of a residue + selecting non-natural residues

[Tina L. <th...@bi...>]

Hello,

I have two operations that I want to perform, and am not aware of a simple way
(if possible) of doing them. So here it goes:

1. how (if possible) to retrieve the color for a residue as identified in an
expression, e.g. "resi 9"? Note that it's not a range so no multiple answers
is possible. I guess the question could extend to other attributes like
representation, etc. The reason I need that is to be able to switch back to a
residue's original color after highlighting it in another.

2. how to select all non-natural residues (anything that's not in the list of
20 standard AAs)?

I'm going the brute-force way, i.e.

naturals1='asp+glu+lys+arg+phe+tyr+cys+met+ser+thr'
naturals2='asn+gln+leu+val+ile+gly+ala+his+trp+pro'
select naturals1, resn naturals1
select naturals2, resn naturals2
select nonnaturals, !naturals1 & !naturals2

which is ugly. I couldn't find a predefined keyword for them though.

Many thanks!

Tina