Molecular dynamics , protein structure

J. Hermans, ed. Molecular Dynamics Protein Structure Polycrystal, West Springs, IL... 

A nmnber of studies have introduced fluorine atoms into amino acids and then used these to obtain fluorine-labeled proteins. F NMR spectroscopy of such proteins can then be carried out in conjunction with other multidimensional NMR experiments to obtain their 3D structures. The fluorine label can also be used as a probe to study molecular dynamics, protein structural changes caused by the introduction of the label and intermolecular interactions. 

Applications of Molecular Dynamics for Structural Analysis of Proteins and Peptides... 

B. R. Brooks, in Supercomputer Research in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, ACS Symposium Series 353. K. F. Jensen, and D. G. Truhlar, Eds., American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C., 1987, pp. 123-145. Applications of Molecular Dynamics for Structural Analysis of Proteins and Peptides. R. H. Reid, C. A. Hooper, and B. R. Brooks, Biopolymers, 28, 525 (1989). Computer Simulations of a Tumor Surface Octapeptide Epitope. 

Keywords Multiscale modeling, Nanotube growth, Non-adiabatic molecular dynamics, Organometallic structures. Protein structure prediction. Reactive molecular dynamics... 

Structure building, manipulation, energy minimization and molecular dynamics, protein loop searching, MOPAC interface. INSIGHT is an interactive graphics front-end to the empirical energy calculations of DISCOVER. DMoI for quantum mechanical density functional theory calculations. DelPhi for electrostatic potential maps. 

Berendsen, H.J.C., Postma, J.P.M., Van Gunsteren, W.F. Statistical mechanics and molecular dynamics The calculation of free energy, in Molecular Dynamics and Protein Structure, J. Hermans, ed.. Polycrystal Book Service, PO Box 27, Western Springs, 111., USA, (1985) 43-46. 

An interesting approach has recently been chosen in the MBO(N)D program ([Moldyn 1997]). Structural elements of different size varying from individual peptide planes up to protein domains can be defined to be rigid. During an atomistic molecular dynamics simulation, all fast motion orthogonal to the lowest normal modes is removed. This allows use of ca. 20 times longer time steps than in standard simulations. 

Abstract. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of proteins provide descriptions of atomic motions, which allow to relate observable properties of proteins to microscopic processes. Unfortunately, such MD simulations require an enormous amount of computer time and, therefore, are limited to time scales of nanoseconds. We describe first a fast multiple time step structure adapted multipole method (FA-MUSAMM) to speed up the evaluation of the computationally most demanding Coulomb interactions in solvated protein models, secondly an application of this method aiming at a microscopic understanding of single molecule atomic force microscopy experiments, and, thirdly, a new method to predict slow conformational motions at microsecond time scales. 

To enable an atomic interpretation of the AFM experiments, we have developed a molecular dynamics technique to simulate these experiments [49], Prom such force simulations rupture models at atomic resolution were derived and checked by comparisons of the computed rupture forces with the experimental ones. In order to facilitate such checks, the simulations have been set up to resemble the AFM experiment in as many details as possible (Fig. 4, bottom) the protein-ligand complex was simulated in atomic detail starting from the crystal structure, water solvent was included within the simulation system to account for solvation effects, the protein was held in place by keeping its center of mass fixed (so that internal motions were not hindered), the cantilever was simulated by use of a harmonic spring potential and, finally, the simulated cantilever was connected to the particular atom of the ligand, to which in the AFM experiment the linker molecule was connected. 

In molecular mechanics and molecular dynamics studies of proteins, assig-ment of standard, non-dynamical ionization states of protein titratable groups is a common practice. This assumption seems to be well justified because proton exchange times between protein and solution usually far exceed the time range of the MD simulations. We investigated to what extent the assumed protonation state of a protein influences its molecular dynamics trajectory, and how often our titration algorithm predicted ionization states identical to those imposed on the groups, when applied to a set of structures derived from a molecular dynamics trajectory [34]. As a model we took the bovine... 

Wlodek, S. T., Antosiewicz, J., McCammon, J. A. Prediction of titration properties of structures of a protein derived from molecular dynamics trajectories. Protein Sci. 6 (1997) 373-382. 

Our work is targeted to biomolecular simulation applications, where the objective is to illuminate the structure and function of biological molecules (proteins, enzymes, etc) ranging in size from dozens of atoms to tens of thousands of atoms today, with the desire to increase this limit to millions of atoms in the near future. Such molecular dynamics (MD) simulations simply apply Newton s law to each atom in the system, with the force on each atom being determined by evaluating the gradient of the potential field at each atom s position. The potential includes contributions from bonding forces. 

The input to a minimisation program consists of a set of initial coordinates for the system. The initial coordinates may come from a variety of sources. They may be obtained from an experimental technique, such as X-ray crystallography or NMR. In other cases a theoretical method is employed, such as a conformational search algorithm. A combination of experimenfal and theoretical approaches may also be used. For example, to study the behaviour of a protein in water one may take an X-ray structure of the protein and immerse it in a solvent bath, where the coordinates of the solvent molecules have been obtained from a Monte Carlo or molecular dynamics simulation. 

Solving Protein Structures Using Restrained Molecular Dynamics and Simulated Annealing... 

A particularly important application of molecular dynamics, often in conjunction with the simulated annealing method, is in the refinement of X-ray and NMR data to determine the three-dimensional structures of large biological molecules such as proteins. The aim of such refinement is to determine the conformation (or conformations) that best explain the experimental data. A modified form of molecular dynamics called restrained moleculai dynarrdcs is usually used in which additional terms, called penalty functions, are added tc the potential energy function. These extra terms have the effect of penalising conformations... 

Miyamoto S and P A Kollman 1993a. Absolute and Relative Binding Tree Energy Calculations of the Interaction of Biotin and its Analogues with Streptavidin Using Molecular Dynamics/Free Energy Perturbation Approaches. Proteins Structure, Function and Genetics 16 226-245. 

Focuses on force field calculations for understanding the dynamic properties of proteins and nucleic acids. Provides a useful introduction to several computational techniques, including molecular mechanics minimization and molecular dynamics. Includes discussions of research involving structural changes and short time scale dynamics of these biomolecules, and the influence of solvent in these processes. 

Most potential energy surfaces are extremely complex. Fiber and Karplus analyzed a 300 psec molecular dynamics trajectory of the protein myoglobin. They estimate that 2000 thermally accessible minima exist near the native protein structure. The total number of conformations is even larger. Dill derived a formula to calculate the upper bound of thermally accessible conformations in a protein. Using this formula, a protein of 150 residues (the approx-... 

Molecular dynamics simulations of proteins often begin with a known structure (such as an X-ray diffraction structure) that you want to maintain during equilibration. Since the solvent may contain high energy hot spots, equilibration of the protein and solvent at the same time can change the protein conformation. To avoid this, select only the water molecules and run a molecular dynamics equilibration. This relaxes the water while fixing the protein structure. Then deselect the water and equilibrate the whole system. 

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