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In this article a method to improve the precision of the classical molecular dynamics force field by solving an approximation problem with scattered quantum mechanical data is presented. This novel technique is based on two steps. In the first step a partition of unity scheme is used for partitioning the state space by meshfree basis functions. As a consequence the potential can be localized for each basis function. In a second step, for one state in each meshfree basis function, the precise QM-based charges are computed. These local QM-based charges are then used, to optimize the local potential function. The performance of this method is shown for the alanine tripeptide.
The rebinding effect is a phenomenon which occurs when observing a ligand-receptor binding process. On the macro scale this process comprises the Markov property. This Makovian view is spoiled when switching to the atomistic scale of a binding process. We therefore suggest a model which accurately describes the rebinding effect on the atomistic scale by allowing ''intermediate'' bound states. This allows us to define an indicator for the magnitude of rebinding and to formulate an optimization problem. The results form our examples show good agreement with data form laboratory.
Ergopeptides, like ergocornine and a-ergocryptine, exist in an S- and in an R-configuration. Kinetic experiments imply that certain configurations are preferred depending on the solvent. The experimental methods are explained in this article. Furthermore, computational methods are used to understand this configurational preference. Standard quantum chemical methods can predict the favored configurations by using minimum energy calculations on the potential energy landscape. However, the explicit role of the solvent is not revealed by this type of methods. In order to better understand its influence, classical mechanical molecular simulations are applied. It appears from our research that “folding” the ergopeptide molecules into an intermediate state (between the S- and the R-configuration) is mechanically hindered for the preferred configurations.