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Molecular dynamics simulation of matrix metalloproteinase 2: fluctuations and time evolution of recognition pockets.

We report a molecular dynamics simulation study of a zinc-protease--gelatinase A or MMP2--which is a major target for drug design, being involved in tumor metastasis and other degenerative diseases. Two structures have been employed as starting conditions, one based on the crystal of multi-domain proMMP2, the other consisting of the catalytic domain only. The overall fold of the two models is maintained over the 1260 ps trajectory, enabling us to analyze correlations of fluctuations among domains, and to observe the presence of correlations within the catalytic domain in the multi-domain enzyme only, hence due to the presence of hemopexin and fibronectin domains. In the multi-domain protein, two cavities are conserved over the trajectory, one of them pointing to a key region, a crevice surrounding the catalytic zinc. The other one is localized across the three domains of the MMP2 metalloproteinase. These areas are partially covered by the propeptide in the crystal structure of proMMP2. We propose a model of MMP2-collagen interaction that involves both identified cavities and takes into account the inter/intra domain cross-correlations.

Collagen↗

Ab initio based force field and molecular dynamics simulations of crystalline TATB.

An all-atom force field for 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TATB) is presented. The classical intermolecular interaction potential for TATB is based on single-point energies determined from high-level ab initio calculations of TATB dimers. The newly developed potential function is used to examine bulk crystalline TATB via molecular dynamics simulations. The isobaric thermal expansion and isothermal compression under hydrostatic pressures obtained from the molecular dynamics simulations are in good agreement with experiment. The calculated volume-temperature expansion is almost one dimensional along the c crystallographic axis, whereas under compression, all three unit cell axes participate, albeit unequally.

Chemistry, Physical↗

Molecular dynamics simulations of rubredoxin from Clostridium pasteurianum: changes in structure and electrostatic potential during redox reactions.

Molecular dynamics simulations of Clostridium pasteurianum rubredoxin in the oxidized and reduced forms have been performed. Good agreement between both forms and crystal data has been obtained (rms deviation of backbone atoms of 1.06 and 1.42 A, respectively), which was due in part to the use of explicit solvent and counterions. The reduced form exhibits an unexpected structural change: the redox site becomes much more solvent-accessible, so that water enters a channel between the surface and the site, but with little actual structural rearrangement (the rms deviation of backbone atoms between the oxidized and reduced is 0.77 A). The increase in solvent accessibility is also seen, although to a much lesser extent, between the oxidized and reduced crystal structures of Pyrococcus furiosus rubredoxin, but no high resolution crystal or nuclear magnetic resonance solution data exist for reduced C. pasteurianum rubredoxin. The electrostatic potential at the iron site and fluctuations in the potential, which contribute to both the redox and electron transfer properties, have also been evaluated for both the oxidized and the reduced simulations. These results show that the backbone plays a significant role (62-70 kcal/mol/e) and the polar side chains contribute relatively little (0-4 kcal/mol/e) to the absolute electrostatic potential at the iron of rubredoxin for both forms. However, both groups contribute significantly to the change in redox state by becoming more polarized and more densely packed around the redox site upon reduction. Furthermore, these results show that the solvent becomes much more polarized in the reduced form than in the oxidized form, even excluding the penetrating water. Finally, the simulation indicates that the contribution of the charged side chains to the electrostatic potential is largely canceled by that of the counterions.

Algorithms↗

Onset of patterns in an oscillated granular layer: continuum and molecular dynamics simulations.

We study the onset of patterns in vertically oscillated layers of frictionless dissipative particles. Using both numerical solutions of continuum equations to Navier-Stokes order and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we find that standing waves form stripe patterns above a critical acceleration of the cell. Changing the frequency of oscillation of the cell changes the wavelength of the resulting pattern; MD and continuum simulations both yield wavelengths in accord with previous experimental results. The value of the critical acceleration for ordered standing waves is approximately 10% higher in molecular dynamics simulations than in the continuum simulations, and the amplitude of the waves differs significantly between the models. The delay in the onset of order in molecular dynamics simulations and the amplitude of noise below this onset are consistent with the presence of fluctuations which are absent in the continuum theory. The strength of the noise obtained by fit to Swift-Hohenberg theory is orders of magnitude larger than the thermal noise in fluid convection experiments, and is comparable to the noise found in experiments with oscillated granular layers and in recent fluid experiments on fluids near the critical point. Good agreement is found between the mean field value of onset from the Swift-Hohenberg fit and the onset in continuum simulations. Patterns are compared in cells oscillated at two different frequencies in MD; the layer with larger wavelength patterns has less noise than the layer with smaller wavelength patterns.

Journal Article↗

Molecular dynamics simulation of the nematic liquid crystal phase in the presence of an intense magnetic field.

The influence of an intense external field on the dynamics of the nematic liquid crystal phase is investigated using a molecular dynamics simulation for the Gay-Berne nematogen under isobaric-isothermal conditions. The molecular dynamics as a function of the second-rank orientational order parameter P<2> for a system consisting of a nematic liquid crystal in the presence of an intense magnetic field is compared with that of a similar system without the field. The translational motion of molecules is determined as a function of the translational diffusion coefficient tensor and the anisotropy and compared with the values predicted theoretically. The rotational dynamics of molecules is analyzed using the first- and the second-rank orientational time correlation functions. The translational diffusion coefficient parallel with respect to the director is constrained by the intense field, although the perpendicular one is decreased as the P<2> is increased, just as it is in the system without the field. However, no essential effect of the strong magnetic field is observed in the rotational molecular dynamics. Further, the rotational diffusion coefficient parallel with respect to the director obtained from the first-rank orientational time correlation function in the simulation is qualitatively in agreement with that in the real nematic liquid crystalline molecules. The P<2> dependence of the rotational diffusion coefficient for the system with the intense magnetic field shows a tendency similar to that for the system without the field.

Journal Article↗

Molecular dynamics simulation of spontaneous membrane fusion during a cubic-hexagonal phase transition.

We report a molecular dynamics simulation of the phase transition of monoolein from an inverted cubic phase to an inverted hexagonal phase. The transition proceeds via an intermediate structure consisting of water channels in a cubic geometry, in agreement with the predictions of the modified stalk theory (Siegel, 1999). Two mechanisms are identified by which the topology changes during the transition. Bilayer fusion proceeds via the formation of trans-monolayer contacts, whereas bilayer rupture is observed as a gradual thinning of each monolayer.

Biophysical Phenomena↗

Molecular dynamics simulations of a fluid bilayer of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine at full hydration, constant pressure, and constant temperature.

Molecular dynamics simulations of 500 ps were performed on a system consisting of a bilayer of 64 molecules of the lipid dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine and 23 water molecules per lipid at an isotropic pressure of 1 atm and 50 degrees C. Special attention was devoted to reproduce the correct density of the lipid, because this quantity is known experimentally with a precision better than 1%. For this purpose, the Lennard-Jones parameters of the hydrocarbon chains were adjusted by simulating a system consisting of 128 pentadecane molecules and varying the Lennard-Jones parameters until the experimental density and heat of vaporization were obtained. With these parameters the lipid density resulted in perfect agreement with the experimental density. The orientational order parameter of the hydrocarbon chains agreed perfectly well with the experimental values, which, because of its correlation with the area per lipid, makes it possible to give a proper estimate of the area per lipid of 0.61 +/- 0.01 nm2.

1,2-Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine↗

Molecular dynamics simulation of the spontaneous formation of a small DPPC vesicle in water in atomistic detail.

Molecular dynamics simulations have been used to study the spontaneous aggregation of a concentrated solution of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) molecules in water into a small vesicle. The molecules were represented in atomistic detail. Starting from a DPPC solution in water, an oblong vesicle with a long axis of 15 nm and short axes of 10 nm was formed spontaneously. After 90 ns of simulation, the vesicle contained a number of water pores. Water pores were shown to facilitate exchange of lipids between inner and outer leaflets. Lipid tails were shown to be less ordered in the inner leaflet of the vesicle, as compared to those in the outer leaflet of the vesicle and an equilibrated lamellar bilayer.

1,2-Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine↗

Molecular dynamics simulation of aqueous NaF and NaI solutions near a hydrophobic surface.

We present results from molecular dynamics simulation of aqueous solutions of alkali halide salts (NaI and NaF) at the interface with hydrophobic objects. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the structural properties of the salt solutions at the hydrophobic surface. An alkane crystal has been taken as the parent model for a hydrophobic surface. A hexagonal hole was created on it, which was half a nm deep and 2.5 nm wide. The density distributions of different species (water, anions, and cations) are studied as a function of distance from the surface. While iodide prefers the interface, the fluoride ions stay inside the bulk water region. The higher concentration of iodide ions at the interface drags sodium counterions to the interface. It also decreases the water density at the interface because of steric effects of the iodide ions. The number of contacts between the surface carbons and water decreases in the case of NaI solutions but is unchanged for NaF solutions. The orientation of the water-ion and the water-water hydrogen bond vector orientations near the interface is discussed in detail.

Journal Article↗

Molecular dynamics simulation study on adsorption and diffusion processes of a hydrophilic chain on a hydrophobic surface.

Molecular dynamics simulations are applied to investigate the adsorption and diffusion processes of a single hydrophilic poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) chain with different chain lengths on a hydrophobic graphite surface. It is expected that the chain and the surface "dislike" each other because one is hydrophilic and the other is hydrophobic. But surprisingly, a short PVA chain is well adsorbed on the surface, accompanied by large changes in the chain configuration. With increasing degree of polymerization (N), the chain turns gradually from two-dimensional adsorption to possessing certain height in the direction perpendicular to the surface. Moreover, the adsorption energy increases and the diffusion coefficient decreases with increasing N. In particular, for N = 20 in equilibrium, the hydroxyls of this short chain are close to the graphite surface in the stable adsorption configuration. In addition, we change the effective dielectric constant to 76.0 to mimic good solvent condition. The chain configurations and the diffusion coefficients both vary in contrast to the foregoing results.

Journal Article↗

Molecular dynamics simulation of nanoparticle self-assembly at a liquid-liquid interface.

We have used molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the in situ self-assembly of modified hydrocarbon nanoparticles (mean diameter of 1.2 nm) at a water-trichloroethylene (TCE) interface. The nanoparticles were first distributed randomly in the water phase. The MD simulation shows the in situ formation of nanoparticle clusters and the migration of both single particles and clusters from the water phase to the trichloroethylene phase, possibly due to the hydrophobic nature of the nanoparticles. Eventually, the single nanoparticles or clusters equilibrate at the water-TCE interface, and the surrounding liquid molecules pack randomly when in contact with the nanoparticle surfaces. In addition, the simulations show that the water-TCE interfacial thickness analyzed from density profiles is influenced by the presence of nanoparticles either near or in contact with the interface but is independent of the number of nanoparticles present. The nanoparticles, water molecules, and TCE molecules all exhibit diffusion anisotropy.

Journal Article↗

An examination of the validity of nonequilibrium molecular-dynamics simulation algorithms for arbitrary steady-state flows.

Nonlinear-response theory of nonequilibrium molecular-dynamics simulation algorithms is considered under the imposition of an arbitrary steady-state flow field. It is demonstrated that the SLLOD and DOLLS algorithms cannot be used for general flows, although the SLLOD algorithm is rigorous for planar Couette flow. Following the same procedure used to establish SLLOD as the valid algorithm for planar Couette flow [D. J. Evans and E. P. Morriss, Phys. Rev. A 30, 1528 (1984)], it is demonstrated that the p-SLLOD algorithm is valid for arbitrary flows and produces the correct nonlinear response of the viscous pressure tensor.

Journal Article↗

Capillary waves at liquid-vapor interfaces: a molecular dynamics simulation.

Evidence for capillary waves at a liquid-vapor interface are presented from extensive molecular dynamics simulations of a system containing up to 1.24 million Lennard-Jones particles. Careful measurements show that the total interfacial width depends logarithmically on L(axially), the length of the simulation cell parallel to the interface, as predicted theoretically. The strength of the divergence of the interfacial width on L(axially) depends inversely on the surface tension gamma. This allows us to measure gamma two ways since gamma can also be obtained from the difference in the pressure parallel and perpendicular to the interface. These two independent measures of gamma agree provided that the interfacial order parameter profile is fit to an error function and not a hyperbolic tangent, as often assumed. We explore why these two common fitting functions give different results for gamma.

Journal Article↗

Molecular dynamics simulations of supercooled and amorphous Co(100-x)Zr(x): atomic mobilities and structural properties

Molecular dynamics simulations are reported on Co(100-x)Zrx in the complete range of compositions. The simulations are based on Hausleitner-Hafner potentials. For the glassy states of the alloys, a comparison of simulated pair-correlation functions with experimental data is presented. Diffusivities were evaluated for the liquid and supercooled melt from isothermal simulation runs. Therefrom a strong dependency on alloy composition is found for the critical temperature T(c)(x) of the mode-coupling theory. Lines of constant averaged diffusivity in the supercooled melts scale closely with this temperature. The ratio of the component diffusivities shows a more involved variation with temperature and composition. These variations reflect differences in the amorphous structure of the alloys, which are quantified in terms of the chemical short-range-order at the level of tetrahedral clusters.

Journal Article↗

Molecular dynamics simulation study of the alpha- and beta-relaxation processes in a realistic model polymer.

Molecular dynamics simulations of a melt of freely rotating chains of 1,4-polybutadiene (FRC-PBD) have been performed over a wide range of temperature. Removal of the dihedral barriers in FRC-PBD allows for complete resolution of the Johari-Goldstein beta process from the primary alpha process in the simulation time window. We find that relaxation in the beta regime occurs as the result of large-angle excursions of all backbone dihedrals. While during the beta process each dihedral visits all available states, the complete relaxation of torsional autocorrelation function (alpha process) occurs only when the polymer matrix shows significant motion and each dihedral populates all states with equilibrium probability.

Journal Article↗

Comparison of the transition state ensembles for folding of Im7 and Im9 determined using all-atom molecular dynamics simulations with phi value restraints.

Delineation of the structural properties of transition states is key to deriving models for protein folding. Here we describe the structures of the transition states of the bacterial immunity proteins Im7 and Im9 obtained by all-atom molecular dynamics simulations with phi value restraints derived from protein engineering experiments. This pair of proteins is of special interest because, at pH 7 and 10 degrees C, Im7 folds via an intermediate while Im9 folds with a two-state transition. The structures of the transition states for Im7 and Im9, together with their radii of gyration and distances from the native state, are similar. The typical distance between any two members of the transition state ensemble of both proteins is large, with that of Im9 nearly twice that of Im7. Thus, a broad range of structures make up the transition state ensembles of these proteins. The ensembles satisfy the set of rather low phi values and yet are consistent with high beta(T) values (> 0.85 for both proteins). For both Im7 and Im9 the inter-helical angles are highly variable in the transition state ensembles, although the native contacts between helices I and IV are well conserved. By measuring the distribution of the accessible surface area for each residue we show that the hydrophobic residues that are buried in the native state remain buried in the transition state, corresponding to a hydrophobic collapse to a relatively ordered globule. The data provide new insights into the structural properties of the transition states of these proteins at an atomic level of detail and show that molecular dynamics simulations with phi value restraints can significantly enhance the knowledge of the transition state ensembles (TSE) provided by the experimental phi values alone.

Bacterial Proteins↗

Protein flexibility using constraints from molecular dynamics simulations.

Proteins are held together in the native state by hydrophobic interactions, hydrogen bonds and interactions with the surrounding water, whose strength as well as spatial and temporal distribution affects protein flexibility and hence function. We study these effects using 10 ns molecular dynamics simulations of pure water and of two proteins, the glutamate receptor ligand binding domain and barnase. We find that most of the noncovalent interactions flicker on and off over typically nanoseconds, and so we can obtain good statistics from the molecular dynamics simulations. Based on this information, a topological network of rigid bonds corresponding to a protein structure with covalent and noncovalent bonds is constructed, with account being taken of the influence of the flickering hydrogen bonds. We define the duty cycle for the noncovalent interactions as the percentage of time a given interaction is present, which we use as an input to investigate flexibility/rigidity patterns, in the algorithm FIRST which constructs and analyses topological networks.

Algorithms↗

A molecular dynamics simulation study of buckyballs in water: atomistic versus coarse-grained models of C60.

A simple coarse-grained water-C(60) model potential is proposed to study the solvation behavior of C(60) in water. Extensive molecular dynamics simulations are performed to compare the hydration behavior of the coarse-grained C(60) with that of its atomistic counterpart. In the coarse-grained description, we model the C(60) as a spherical solute and its interaction with water is represented by a simple two-body central potential as obtained from a coarse graining of the interactions of a water molecule with all the atoms of the C(60). On the other hand, the atomistic model takes into account a discrete nature of all the atoms of C(60) explicitly. Molecular dynamics simulations are carried out in an isothermal-isobaric ensemble at normal temperature and pressure. Various spatial and orientational correlations of the water around the two model C(60)s are compared. The coarse-grained model is shown to reproduce the hydration behavior of the C(60) quite well. The simplicity and the computational economy of the coarse-grained model will allow for simulations of self-assembly processes of a much larger system over a longer period of time.

Journal Article↗