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A simple method for displaying the hydropathic character of a protein

CHARMM (Chemistry at HARvard Molecular Mechanics) is a highly versatile and widely used molecu- lar simulation program. It has been developed over the last three decades with a primary focus on molecules of bio- logical interest, including proteins, peptides, lipids, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and small molecule ligands, as they occur in solution, crystals, and membrane environments. For the study of such systems, the program provides a large suite of computational tools that include numerous conformational and path sampling methods, free energy estima- tors, molecular minimization, dynamics, and analysis techniques, and model-building capabilities. The CHARMM program is applicable to problems involving a much broader class of many-particle systems. Calculations with CHARMM can be performed using a number of different energy functions and models, from mixed quantum mechanical-molecular mechanical force fields, to all-atom classical potential energy functions with explicit solvent and various boundary conditions, to implicit solvent and membrane models. The program has been ported to numer- ous platforms in both serial and parallel architectures. This article provides an overview of the program as it exists today with an emphasis on developments since the publication of the original CHARMM article in 1983.

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CHARMM: the biomolecular simulation program.

We present an improved and extended version of our coarse grained lipid model. The new version, coined the MARTINI force field, is parametrized in a systematic way, based on the reproduction of partitioning free energies between polar and apolar phases of a large number of chemical compounds. To reproduce the free energies of these chemical building blocks, the number of possible interaction levels of the coarse-grained sites has increased compared to those of the previous model. Application of the new model to lipid bilayers shows an improved behavior in terms of the stress profile across the bilayer and the tendency to form pores. An extension of the force field now also allows the simulation of planar (ring) compounds, including sterols. Application to a bilayer/cholesterol system at various concentrations shows the typical cholesterol condensation effect similar to that observed in all atom representations.

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The MARTINI force field : Coarse grained model for biomolecular simulations

Successive parameterizations of the GROMOS force field have been used successfully to simulate biomolecular systems over a long period of time. The continuing expansion of computational power with time makes it possible to compute ever more properties for an increasing variety of molecular systems with greater precision. This has led to recurrent parameterizations of the GROMOS force field all aimed at achieving better agreement with experimental data. Here we report the results of the latest, extensive reparameterization of the GROMOS force field. In contrast to the parameterization of other biomolecular force fields, this parameterization of the GROMOS force field is based primarily on reproducing the free enthalpies of hydration and apolar solvation for a range of compounds. This approach was chosen because the relative free enthalpy of solvation between polar and apolar environments is a key property in many biomolecular processes of interest, such as protein folding, biomolecular association, membrane formation, and transport over membranes. The newest parameter sets, 53A5 and 53A6, were optimized by first fitting to reproduce the thermodynamic properties of pure liquids of a range of small polar molecules and the solvation free enthalpies of amino acid analogs in cyclohexane (53A5). The partial charges were then adjusted to reproduce the hydration free enthalpies in water (53A6). Both parameter sets are fully documented, and the differences between these and previous parameter sets are discussed.

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A biomolecular force field based on the free enthalpy of hydration and solvation: the GROMOS force-field parameter sets 53A5 and 53A6.

Many biologically interesting phenomena occur on a time scale that is too long to be studied by atomistic simulations. These phenomena include the dynamics of large proteins and self-assembly of biological materials. Coarse-grained (CG) molecular modeling allows computer simulations to be run on length and time scales that are 2–3 orders of magnitude larger compared to atomistic simulations, providing a bridge between the atomistic and the mesoscopic scale. We developed a new CG model for proteins as an extension of the MARTINI force field. Here, we validate the model for its use in peptide-bilayer systems. In order to validate the model, we calculated the potential of mean force for each amino acid as a function of its distance from the center of a dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (DOPC) lipid bilayer. We then compared amino acid association constants, the partitioning of a series of model pentapeptides, the partitioning and orientation of WALP23 in DOPC lipid bilayers and a series of KALP peptides in dimyris...

The MARTINI Coarse-Grained Force Field: Extension to Proteins

Equilibria of distribution of amino acid side chains, between their dilute aqueous solutions and the vapor phase at 25 degrees C, have been determined by dynamic vapor pressure measurements. After correction to pH 7, the resulting scale of "hydration potentials", or free energies of transfer from the vapor phase to neutral aqueous solution, spans a range of approximately 22 kcal/mol. The side chain of arginine is much more hydrophilic than those of the other common amino acids, with an equilibrium constant of approximately 10(15) for transfer from the vapor phase to neutral aqueous solution. Hydration potentials are more closely correlated with the relative tendencies of the various amino acids to appear at the surface of globular proteins than had been evident from earlier distribution studies on the free amino acids. Both properties are associated with a pronounced bias in the genetic code.

Affinities of Amino Acid Side Chains for Solvent Water

L-Leucinal, prepared by enzymatic oxidation of L-leucinol with alcohol dehydrogenase, is found to be a very strong competitive inhibitor of porcine kidney aminopeptidases. For the enzyme from kidney microsomes acting on L-leucine p-nitroanilide (Km = 5.2 x 10(-4) M), for Ki for L-leucinal was 7.6 x 10(-7) M at pH 7.2 and 25 degrees C. For the enzyme from kidney cytosol acting on L-leucine p-nitroanilide (Km = 7.7 x 10(-4) M), Ki for L-leucinal was 6 x 10(-8) M; Ki for glycinal (analogous to glycine derivatives that are poor substrates) was 6.8 x 10(-4) M. In dilute aqueous solution, leucinal exists in unfavorable equilibrium with its covalent hydrate, whose concentration exceeds that of the free aldehyde by a factor of 40. The affinity of the enzyme for the free aldehyde is correspondingly greater than its Ki values would suggest, exceeding the apparent affinity of the substrate by a factor of about 10(6). A comparison of binding affinities suggests that L-leucinal forms an inhibitory complex analogous in structure to unstable intermediates and substrate transformation by leucine aminopeptidase, and strengthens the likelihood that this enzyme may act by a double-displacement mechanism.

alpha-aminoaldehydes: transition state analogue inhibitors of leucine aminopeptidase.

Ki values for leucine aldehyde, a competitive inhibitor of leucine aminopeptidase, vary with pH in a manner compatible with the binding of uncharged inhibitors. The pH dependence of kcat/Km suggests likewise that the substrate leucine p-nitroanilide is productively bound as the uncharged species. Comparison of pKa values of the model compounds aminoacetone and aminoacetal indicates that the equilibrium constant for hydration of amino aldehydes is reduced by a factor of about 2 when a proton is lost from the alpha-ammonium group near pH 8. Effects of deuterium substitution at C-1 on equilibrium binding of leucine aldehyde were determined with immobilized enzymes and inhibitors doubly labeled with radioisotopes. The observed isotope effect (KD/KH) is approximately unity, suggesting that leucine aldehyde combines with the enzyme as an oxygen adduct, not as the intact aldehyde.

Lars Andersson

Papers

Affinities of Amino Acid Side Chains for Solvent Water

alpha-aminoaldehydes: transition state analogue inhibitors of leucine aminopeptidase.

Use of secondary isotope effects and varying pH to investigate the mode of binding of inhibitory amino aldehydes by leucine aminopeptidase.

Coupling of dyes to biopolymers by sensitized photooxidation. Affinity labeling of a binding site in bovine serum albumin.

A general method of α-aminoaldehyde synthesis using alcohol dehydrogenase