Genetic algorithm Conformation search

A molecular dynamics simulation samples the phase space of a molecule (defined by the position of the atoms and their velocities) by integrating Newton s equations of motion. Because MD accounts for thermal motion, the molecules simulated may possess enough thermal energy to overcome potential barriers, which makes the technique suitable in principle for conformational analysis of especially large molecules. In the case of small molecules, other techniques such as systematic, random. Genetic Algorithm-based, or Monte Carlo searches may be better suited for effectively sampling conformational space. 

Judson R S, W P Jaeger, A M Treasurywala and M L Peterson 1993. Conformational Searching Methods for Small Molecules. 2. Genetic Algorithm Approach. Journal of Computational Chemistry 14 1407-1414. 

Method and a Genetic Algorithm for Conformational Searching. Journal of Computational... 

H. Ramasamy, R. Nambudripad, and T. E. Smith, Al Extended Genetic Algorithm for 3D Conformational Search. 

To overcome the limitations of the database search methods, conformational search methods were developed [95,96,109]. There are many such methods, exploiting different protein representations, objective function tenns, and optimization or enumeration algorithms. The search algorithms include the minimum perturbation method [97], molecular dynamics simulations [92,110,111], genetic algorithms [112], Monte Carlo and simulated annealing [113,114], multiple copy simultaneous search [115-117], self-consistent field optimization [118], and an enumeration based on the graph theory [119]. 

The second dataset consists of 50 V-acetyl peptide amides (Table 2) these peptides have un-ionizable side chains and have previously been studied by Buchwald and Bodor (28). The three-dimensional structures of the di-peptides were built using the force field and partial charges of Kollman (29) as implemented in Sybyl 6.5.3. The initial random starting conformations were energy minimized in vacuo. For all calculations described herein, the dielectric of the medium was set to unity and the electrostatic cut-off distance was set to 16 A. For each molecule, the Sybyl Genetic Algorithm-based conformational search,... 

A. Jin, F. Leung, and D. F. Weaver, ]. Comput. Chem., 18, 1971 (1997). Development of a Genetic Algorithm Search Method (GAP1.0) for Exploring Peptide Conformational Space. 

In general, five different approaches can be distinguished and are applied to explore the conformational space of a molecule systematic searches, rule-based and data-based approaches (model building), random methods, genetic algorithms, distance geometry, and simulation methods. Some of the basic principles and ideas behind these concepts have already been described in the Secs. 2 and 3 of this article. In the following, the application of these concepts to conformational analysis and searches will be discussed. 

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