Most cited article - PubMed ID 26276478
Calcium Binding to Calmodulin by Molecular Dynamics with Effective Polarization
prosECCo75 is an optimized force field effectively incorporating electronic polarization via charge scaling. It aims to enhance the accuracy of nominally nonpolarizable molecular dynamics simulations for interactions in biologically relevant systems involving water, ions, proteins, lipids, and saccharides. Recognizing the inherent limitations of nonpolarizable force fields in precisely modeling electrostatic interactions essential for various biological processes, we mitigate these shortcomings by accounting for electronic polarizability in a physically rigorous mean-field way that does not add to computational costs. With this scaling of (both integer and partial) charges within the CHARMM36 framework, prosECCo75 addresses overbinding artifacts. This improves agreement with experimental ion binding data across a broad spectrum of systems─lipid membranes, proteins (including peptides and amino acids), and saccharides─without compromising their biomolecular structures. prosECCo75 thus emerges as a computationally efficient tool providing enhanced accuracy and broader applicability in simulating the complex interplay of interactions between ions and biomolecules, pivotal for improving our understanding of many biological processes.
In this work, the influence of membrane curvature on the Ca2+ binding to phospholipid bilayers is investigated by means of molecular dynamics simulations. In particular, we compared Ca2+ binding to flat, elastically buckled, or uniformly bent zwitterionic and anionic phospholipid bilayers. We demonstrate that Ca2+ ions bind preferably to the concave membrane surfaces in both types of bilayers. We also show that the membrane curvature leads to pronounced changes in Ca2+ binding including differences in free ion concentrations, lipid coordination distributions, and the patterns of ion binding to different chemical groups of lipids. Moreover, these effects differ substantially for the concave and convex membrane monolayers. Comparison between force fields with either full or scaled charges indicates that charge scaling results in reduction of the Ca2+ binding to curved phosphatidylserine bilayers, while for phosphatidylcholine membranes, calcium binds only weakly for both force fields.
- MeSH
- Phosphatidylcholines chemistry MeSH
- Phospholipids * chemistry MeSH
- Ions MeSH
- Lipid Bilayers * chemistry MeSH
- Molecular Dynamics Simulation MeSH
- Calcium chemistry MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Names of Substances
- Phosphatidylcholines MeSH
- Phospholipids * MeSH
- Ions MeSH
- Lipid Bilayers * MeSH
- Calcium MeSH
Models of the hydrogenoxalate (bioxalate, charge -1) and oxalate (charge -2) anions were developed for classical molecular dynamics (CMD) simulations and parametrized against ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) data from our previous study (Kroutil et al. (2016) J Mol Model 22:210). The interactions of the anions with water were described using charges scaled according to the electronic continuum correction approach with rescaling of nonbonded parameters (ECCR), and those descriptions of anion interactions were found to agree well with relevant AIMD and experimental results. The models with full RESP charges showed excessively strong electrostatic interactions between the solute and water molecules, leading to an overstructured solvation shell around the anions and thus to a diffusion coefficient that was much too low. The effect of charge scaling was more evident for the oxalate dianion than for the hydrogenoxalate anion. Our work provides CMD models for ions of oxalic acid and extends previous studies that showed the importance of ECCR for modeling divalent ions and ions of organic compounds. Graphical abstract The radial distribution function between a water oxygen (Ow) and an oxygen of the oxalate dianion (Ox) significantly improved when scaled charges were applied to the anion.
- Keywords
- AIMD, Ab initio molecular dynamics, CMD, Classical molecular dynamics, ECCR, Electronic continuum correction, Hydrogenoxalate, Oxalate, Oxalic acid anions,
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
