Nejvíce citovaný článek - PubMed ID 11237619
Advances in molecular dynamics (MD) software alongside enhanced computational power and hardware have allowed for MD simulations to significantly expand our knowledge of biomolecular structure, dynamics, and interactions. Furthermore, it has allowed for the extension of conformational sampling times from nanoseconds to the microsecond level and beyond. This has not only made convergence of conformational ensembles through comprehensive sampling possible but consequently exposed deficiencies and allowed the community to overcome limitations in the available force fields. The reproducibility and accuracy of the force fields are imperative in order to produce biologically relevant data. The Amber nucleic acid force fields have been used widely since the mid-1980s, and improvement of these force fields has been a community effort with several artifacts revealed, corrected, and reevaluated by various research groups. Here, we focus on the Amber force fields for use with double-stranded DNA and present the assessment of two recently developed force field parameter sets (OL21 and Tumuc1). Extensive MD simulations were performed with six test systems and two different water models. We observe the improvement of OL21 and Tumuc1 compared to previous generations of the Amber DNA force. We did not detect any significant improvement in the performance of Tumuc1 compared to OL21 despite the reparameterization of bonded force field terms in the former; however, we did note discrepancies in Tumuc1 when modeling Z-DNA sequences.
- MeSH
- DNA * chemie MeSH
- molekulární konformace MeSH
- reprodukovatelnost výsledků MeSH
- simulace molekulární dynamiky MeSH
- Z-DNA * MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- Názvy látek
- DNA * MeSH
- Z-DNA * MeSH
The utility of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to model biomolecular structure, dynamics, and interactions has witnessed enormous advances in recent years due to the availability of optimized MD software and access to significant computational power, including GPU multicore computing engines and other specialized hardware. This has led researchers to routinely extend conformational sampling times to the microsecond level and beyond. The extended sampling time has allowed the community not only to converge conformational ensembles through complete sampling but also to discover deficiencies and overcome problems with the force fields. Accuracy of the force fields is a key component, along with sampling, toward being able to generate accurate and stable structures of biopolymers. The Amber force field for nucleic acids has been used extensively since the 1990s, and multiple artifacts have been discovered, corrected, and reassessed by different research groups. We present a direct comparison of two of the most recent and state-of-the-art Amber force field modifications, bsc1 and OL15, that focus on accurate modeling of double-stranded DNA. After extensive MD simulations with five test cases and two different water models, we conclude that both modifications are a remarkable improvement over the previous bsc0 force field. Both force field modifications show better agreement when compared to experimental structures. To ensure convergence, the Drew-Dickerson dodecamer (DDD) system was simulated using 100 independent MD simulations, each extended to at least 10 μs, and the independent MD simulations were concatenated into a single 1 ms long trajectory for each combination of force field and water model. This is significantly beyond the time scale needed to converge the conformational ensemble of the internal portions of a DNA helix absent internal base pair opening. Considering all of the simulations discussed in the current work, the MD simulations performed to assess and validate the current force fields and water models aggregate over 14 ms of simulation time. The results suggest that both the bsc1 and OL15 force fields render average structures that deviate significantly less than 1 Å from the average experimental structures. This can be compared to similar but less exhaustive simulations with the CHARMM 36 force field that aggregate to the ∼90 μs time scale and also perform well but do not produce structures as close to the DDD NMR average structures (with root-mean-square deviations of 1.3 Å) as the newer Amber force fields. On the basis of these analyses, any future research involving double-stranded DNA simulations using the Amber force fields should employ the bsc1 or OL15 modification.
- MeSH
- B-DNA chemie MeSH
- DNA chemie MeSH
- konformace nukleové kyseliny MeSH
- magnetická rezonanční spektroskopie MeSH
- párování bází MeSH
- simulace molekulární dynamiky MeSH
- voda chemie MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- Názvy látek
- B-DNA MeSH
- DNA MeSH
- voda MeSH
A-tracts are functionally important DNA sequences which induce helix bending and have peculiar structural properties. While A-tract structure has been qualitatively well characterized, their mechanical properties remain controversial. A-tracts appear structurally rigid and resist nucleosome formation, but seem flexible in DNA looping. In this work, we investigate mechanical properties of symmetric AnTn and asymmetric A2n tracts for n = 3, 4, 5 using two types of coarse-grained models. The first model represents DNA as an ensemble of interacting rigid bases with non-local quadratic deformation energy, the second one treats DNA as an anisotropically bendable and twistable elastic rod. Parameters for both models are inferred from microsecond long, atomic-resolution molecular dynamics simulations. We find that asymmetric A-tracts are more rigid than the control G/C-rich sequence in localized distortions relevant for nucleosome formation, but are more flexible in global bending and twisting relevant for looping. The symmetric tracts, in contrast, are more rigid than asymmetric tracts and the control, both locally and globally. Our results can reconcile the contradictory stiffness data on A-tracts and suggest symmetric A-tracts to be more efficient in nucleosome exclusion than the asymmetric ones. This would open a new possibility of gene expression manipulation using A-tracts.
- MeSH
- adenin chemie MeSH
- biomechanika MeSH
- DNA chemie MeSH
- entropie MeSH
- konformace nukleové kyseliny MeSH
- nukleozomy chemie MeSH
- poly A chemie MeSH
- sekvence nukleotidů MeSH
- simulace molekulární dynamiky MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
- Názvy látek
- adenin MeSH
- DNA MeSH
- nukleozomy MeSH
- poly A MeSH
A method is proposed to measure global bending in DNA and RNA structures. It relies on a properly defined averaging of base-fixed coordinate frames, computes mean frames of suitably chosen groups of bases and uses these mean frames to evaluate bending. The method is applied to DNA A-tracts, known to induce considerable bend to the double helix. We performed atomistic molecular dynamics simulations of sequences containing the A(4)T(4) and T(4)A(4) tracts, in a single copy and in two copies phased with the helical repeat. Various temperature and salt conditions were investigated. Our simulations indicate bending by roughly 10 degrees per A(4)T(4) tract into the minor groove, and an essentially straight structure containing T(4)A(4), in agreement with electrophoretic mobility data. In contrast, we show that the published NMR structures of analogous sequences containing A(4)T(4) and T(4)A(4) tracts are significantly bent into the minor groove for both sequences, although bending is less pronounced for the T(4)A(4) containing sequence. The bending magnitudes obtained by frame averaging are confirmed by the analysis of superhelices composed of repeated tract monomers.
DNA A-tracts have been defined as four or more consecutive A.T base pairs without a TpA step. When inserted in phase with the DNA helical repeat, bending is manifested macroscopically as anomalous migration on polyacrylamide gels, first observed >20 years ago. An unsolved conundrum is why DNA containing in-phase A-tract repeats of A(4)T(4) are bent, whereas T(4)A(4) is straight. We have determined the solution structures of the DNA duplexes formed by d(GCAAAATTTTGC) [A4T4] and d(CGTTTTAAAACG) [T4A4] with NH(4)(+) counterions by using NMR spectroscopy, including refinement with residual dipolar couplings. Analysis of the structures shows that the ApT step has a large negative roll, resulting in a local bend toward the minor groove, whereas the TpA step has a positive roll and locally bends toward the major groove. For A4T4, this bend is nearly in phase with bends at the two A-tract junctions, resulting in an overall bend toward the minor groove of the A-tract, whereas for T4A4, the bends oppose each other, resulting in a relatively straight helix. NMR-based structural modeling of d(CAAAATTTTG)(15) and d(GTTTTAAAAC)(15) reveals that the former forms a left-handed superhelix with a diameter of approximately 110 A and pitch of 80 A, similar to DNA in the nucleosome, whereas the latter has a gentle writhe with a pitch of >250 A and diameter of approximately 50 A. Results of gel electrophoretic mobility studies are consistent with the higher-order structure of the DNA and furthermore depend on the nature of the monovalent cation present in the running buffer.
Unrestrained 5-20-ns explicit-solvent molecular dynamics simulations using the Cornell et al. force field have been carried out for d[GCG(N)11GCG]2 (N, purine base) considering guanine*cytosine (G*C), adenine*thymine (A*T), inosine*5-methyl-cytosine (I*mC), and 2-amino-adenine*thymine (D*T) basepairs. The simulations unambiguously show that the structure and elasticity of N-tracts is primarily determined by the presence of the amino group in the minor groove. Simulated A-, I-, and AI-tracts show almost identical structures, with high propeller twist and minor groove narrowing. G- and D-tracts have small propeller twisting and are partly shifted toward the A-form. The elastic properties also differ between the two groups. The sequence-dependent electrostatic component of base stacking seems to play a minor role. Our conclusions are entirely consistent with available experimental data. Nevertheless, the propeller twist and helical twist in the simulated A-tract appear to be underestimated compared to crystallographic studies. To obtain further insight into the possible force field deficiencies, additional multiple simulations have been made for d(A)10, systematically comparing four major force fields currently used in DNA simulations and utilizing B and A-DNA forms as the starting structure. This comparison shows that the conclusions of the present work are not influenced by the force field choice.
- MeSH
- DNA chemie MeSH
- konformace nukleové kyseliny MeSH
- molekulární modely MeSH
- párování bází MeSH
- polydeoxyribonukleotidy chemie MeSH
- pružnost MeSH
- puriny chemie MeSH
- vodíková vazba MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
- Názvy látek
- DNA MeSH
- polydeoxyribonukleotidy MeSH
- puriny MeSH
