combining optimal control theory and molecular dynamics for protein folding结合最优控制理论和分子动力学,蛋白质折叠.pdfVIP

Combining Optimal Control Theory and Molecular Dynamics for Protein Folding 1 2¤ Yaman Arkun *, Mert Gur 1 Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey, 2 Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey Abstract A new method to develop low-energy folding routes for proteins is presented. The novel aspect of the proposed approach is the synergistic use of optimal control theory with Molecular Dynamics (MD). In the first step of the method, optimal control theory is employed to compute the force field and the optimal folding trajectory for the Ca atoms of a Coarse- Grained (CG) protein model. The solution of this CG optimization provides an harmonic approximation of the true potential energy surface around the native state. In the next step CG optimization guides the MD simulation by specifying the optimal target positions for the Ca atoms. In turn, MD simulation provides an all-atom conformation whose Ca positions match closely the reference target positions determined by CG optimization. This is accomplished by Targeted Molecular Dynamics (TMD) which uses a bias potential or harmonic restraint in addition to the usual MD potential. Folding is a dynamical process and as such residues make different contacts during the course of folding. Therefore CG optimization has to be reinitialized and repeated over time to accomodate these important changes. At each sampled folding time, the active contacts among the residues are recalculated based on the all-atom conformation obtained from MD. Using the new set of contacts, the CG potential is updated and the CG optimal trajectory for the Ca atoms is recomputed. This is followed by MD. Implementation of th