PACKMOL: a package for building initial configurations for molecular dynamics simulations

Production and extraction of sugars from switchgrass hydrolyzed in ionic liquids

BACKGROUND

The use of Ionic liquids (ILs) as biomass solvents is considered to be an attractive alternative for the pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass. Acid catalysts have been used previously to hydrolyze polysaccharides into fermentable sugars during IL pretreatment. This could potentially provide a means of liberating fermentable sugars from biomass without the use of costly enzymes. However, the separation of the sugars from the aqueous IL and recovery of IL is challenging and imperative to make this process viable.

RESULTS

Aqueous alkaline solutions are used to induce the formation of a biphasic system to recover sugars produced from the acid catalyzed hydrolysis of switchgrass in imidazolium-based ILs. The amount of sugar produced from this process was proportional to the extent of biomass solubilized. Pretreatment at high temperatures (e.g., 160°C, 1.5 h) was more effective in producing glucose. Sugar extraction into the alkali phase was dependent on both the amount of sugar produced by acidolysis and the alkali concentration in the aqueous extractant phase. Maximum yields of 53% glucose and 88% xylose are recovered in the alkali phase, based on the amounts present in the initial biomass. The partition coefficients of glucose and xylose between the IL and alkali phases can be accurately predicted using molecular dynamics simulations.

CONCLUSIONS

This biphasic system may enable the facile recycling of IL and rapid recovery of the sugars, and provides an alternative route to the production of monomeric sugars from biomass that eliminates the need for enzymatic saccharification and also reduces the amount of water required.

X-ray structure and molecular dynamics simulations of endoglucanase 3 from Trichoderma harzianum: structural organization and substrate recognition by endoglucanases that lack cellulose binding module

Plant biomass holds a promise for the production of second-generation ethanol via enzymatic hydrolysis, but its utilization as a biofuel resource is currently limited to a large extent by the cost and low efficiency of the cellulolytic enzymes. Considerable efforts have been dedicated to elucidate the mechanisms of the enzymatic process. It is well known that most cellulases possess a catalytic core domain and a carbohydrate binding module (CBM), without which the enzymatic activity can be drastically reduced. However, Cel12A members of the glycosyl hydrolases family 12 (GHF12) do not bear a CBM and yet are able to hydrolyze amorphous cellulose quite efficiently. Here, we use X-ray crystallography and molecular dynamics simulations to unravel the molecular basis underlying the catalytic capability of endoglucanase 3 from Trichoderma harzianum (ThEG3), a member of the GHF12 enzymes that lacks a CBM. A comparative analysis with the Cellulomonas fimi CBM identifies important residues mediating interactions of EG3s with amorphous regions of the cellulose. For instance, three aromatic residues constitute a harboring wall of hydrophobic contacts with the substrate in both ThEG3 and CfCBM structures. Moreover, residues at the entrance of the active site cleft of ThEG3 are identified, which might hydrogen bond to the substrate. We advocate that the ThEG3 residues Asn152 and Glu201 interact with the substrate similarly to the corresponding CfCBM residues Asn81 and Arg75. Altogether, these results show that CBM motifs are incorporated within the ThEG3 catalytic domain and suggest that the enzymatic efficiency is associated with the length and position of the substrate chain, being higher when the substrate interact with the aromatic residues at the entrance of the cleft and the catalytic triad. Our results provide guidelines for rational protein engineering aiming to improve interactions of GHF12 enzymes with cellulosic substrates.

Development and application of a particle-particle particle-mesh Ewald method for dispersion interactions

For inhomogeneous systems with interfaces, the inclusion of long-range dispersion interactions is necessary to achieve consistency between molecular simulation calculations and experimental results. For accurate and efficient incorporation of these contributions, we have implemented a particle-particle particle-mesh Ewald solver for dispersion (r(-6)) interactions into the LAMMPS molecular dynamics package. We demonstrate that the solver's O(N log N) scaling behavior allows its application to large-scale simulations. We carefully determine a set of parameters for the solver that provides accurate results and efficient computation. We perform a series of simulations with Lennard-Jones particles, SPC/E water, and hexane to show that with our choice of parameters the dependence of physical results on the chosen cutoff radius is removed. Physical results and computation time of these simulations are compared to results obtained using either a plain cutoff or a traditional Ewald sum for dispersion.

Modeling self-assembly of silica/surfactant mesostructures in the templated synthesis of nanoporous solids

A novel coarse-grained (CG) model to study the self-assembly of silica/surfactant mesostructures during the synthesis of periodic mesoporous silica is reported. Molecular dynamics simulations of hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (also called cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, or CTAB) surfactants in water and in aqueous silicate solutions have been performed to understand micelle formation, micelle growth, and their size evolution during the synthesis of surfactant-templated mesoporous materials. Direct comparison of density profiles obtained for preassembled micelles employing an all-atom description, AA, with those calculated with the CG model has been carried out for checking the validity of the latter model. Good agreement between AA and CG approaches was found, demonstrating the potential of the CG approximation for modeling these highly complex systems. The micelle formation and micelle fusion/fission processes were analyzed after performing long CG simulations for surfactant and ionized silica-surfactant aqueous solutions. We observed the formation of rodlike micelles in the case of silica-surfactant solutions, while spherical micelles were stable under the same conditions for the CTAB+H(2)O system. This demonstrates that the interaction of anionic silicates with cationic surfactants promotes a sphere-to-rod transition in surfactant solutions, a key step in the synthesis of nanoporous silica materials.

Computational studies of ionic liquids: size does matter and time too

Taking the molecular ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium triflate as a reference system, the size and time dependence of molecular dynamics simulation studies is analyzed in a systematic way. Based on an all atom force field, trajectories of 70 ns length, covering samples of 8-2000 ion pairs, were generated and analyzed in terms of structure as well as single particle and collective dynamics. Although 50 ion pairs seemed sufficient for structure, at least 500 ion pairs were needed for the correct handling of dynamics. For larger systems a linear regime is found, i.e., the respective dynamical properties are a linear function of the inverse box length. In case of translational diffusion coefficients, this linear relation can be rationalised in hydrodynamic terms. The respective formula is essentially determined by viscosity and the inverse box length. Concerning the time dependence, consistent dynamical properties required a time period of 20-30 ns. Nevertheless, size dependence dominates time dependence and has to be primarily addressed.

Free energy of translocating an arginine-rich cell-penetrating peptide across a lipid bilayer suggests pore formation

The molecular mechanism and energetics of the translocation of arginine-rich, cell-penetrating peptides through membranes are still under debate. One possible mechanism involves the formation of a water pore in the membrane such that the hydrophilic residues of the peptide are solvated throughout the translocating process. In this work, employing two different order parameters, we calculate the free energies of translocating a cyclic Arg(9) peptide into a lipid bilayer along one path that involves a water-pore formation and another path that does not form a separate pore. The free-energy barrier of translocating the peptide along a pore path is 80 kJ/mol lower than along a pore-free path. This suggests that the peptide translocation is more likely associated with a water-pore formation.

Sparse Projected-Gradient Method As a Linear-Scaling Low-Memory Alternative to Diagonalization in Self-Consistent Field Electronic Structure Calculations

Large-scale electronic structure calculations usually involve huge nonlinear eigenvalue problems. A method for solving these problems without employing expensive eigenvalue decompositions of the Fock matrix is presented in this work. The sparsity of the input and output matrices is preserved at every iteration, and the memory required by the algorithm scales linearly with the number of atoms of the system. The algorithm is based on a projected gradient iteration applied to the constraint fulfillment problem. The computer time required by the algorithm also scales approximately linearly with the number of atoms (or non-null elements of the matrices), and the algorithm is faster than standard implementations of modern eigenvalue decomposition methods for sparse matrices containing more than 50 000 non-null elements. The new method reproduces the sequence of semiempirical SCF iterations obtained by standard eigenvalue decomposition algorithms to good precision.

Lipid A from lipopolysaccharide recognition: structure, dynamics and cooperativity by molecular dynamics simulations

Molecular dynamics simulations of Lipid A and its natural precursor Lipid IVA from E.coli have been carried out free in solution, bound to the myeliod differentiation protein 2 (MD2) and in the complex of MD2 with the toll like receptor 4 (TLR4). In addition, simulations of the ligand free MD2 and MD2-TLR4 complex were performed. A structural and energetic characterization of the bound and unbound states of Lipid A/IVA was generated. As the crystal structures depict, the main driving force for MD2-Lipid A/IVA are the hydrophobic interactions between the aliphatic tails and the MD2 cavity. The charged phosphate groups do strongly interact with positively charged residues, located at the surface of MD2. However, they are not essential for keeping the lipids in the cavity, indicating a more prominent role in binding recognition and ionic interactions with TLR4 at the MD2/TLR4 interface. Interestingly, in the absence of any ligand MD2 rapidly closes, blocking the binding cavity. The presence of TLR4, though changing the dynamics, was not able to impede the aforementioned closing event. We hypothesize that fluctuations of the H1 region are essential for this phenomenon, and it is plausible that an equilibrium between the open and closed states exists, although the lengths of our simulations are not sufficient to encompass the reversible process. The MD2/Lipid A-TLR4 complex simulations show that the presence of the ligand energetically stabilizes the complex relative to the ligand-free structures, indicating cooperativity in the binding process.

Quantum Calculations of Intramolecular IR Spectra of Ice Models Using Ab Initio Potential and Dipole Moment Surfaces

We report the IR spectra of two forms of ice in the monomer bend and OH-stretching regions, using recently developed ab initio potential and dipole moment surfaces for arbitrarily many water monomers. Coupling and anharmonicity of the intramolecular vibrational modes are taken into account using coupled three-mode variational calculations, within the local-monomer model. Spectra for the surface and core regions of these ice models are presented. The calculated spectra for the core region, with no adjustments, are in good agreement with experiment for the intramolecular OH-stretch and bend regions. Our analysis also shows a significant contribution from the overtone of the monomer bend to the OH-stretch region of the spectra.

Microsolvation and hydration enthalpies of CaC₂O₄(H₂O) n (n=0-16) and C₂O₄²⁻(H₂O) n (n=0-14): an ab initio study

We studied hydrated calcium oxalate and its ions at the restricted Hartree-Fock RHF/6-31G* level of theory. Performing a configurational search seems to improve the fit of the HF/6-31G* level to experimental data. The first solvation shell of calcium oxalate contains 13 water molecules, while the first solvation shell of oxalate ion is formed by 14 water molecules. The first solvation shell of Ca(II) is formed by six water molecules, while the second shell contains five. At 298.15 K, we estimate the asymptotic limits (infinite dilution) of the total standard enthalpies of hydration for Ca(II), oxalate ion and calcium oxalate as -480.78, -302.78 and -312.73 kcal mol(-1), resp. The dissociation of hydrated calcium oxalate is an endothermic process with an asymptotic limit of +470.84 kcal mol(-1).

Nanoparticle translocation through a lipid bilayer tuned by surface chemistry

An enhanced understanding about the interactions between nanomaterials and cell membranes may have important implications for biomedical applications. In this work, coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations of gold nanoparticles interacting with lipid bilayers were performed to evaluate the effect of hydrophobicity, charge density and ligand length on lipid bilayers. The simulations accomplished indicate that hydrophobic and anionic nanoparticles do not exhibit significant interactions and different charge densities may induce pore formation or nanoparticle wrapping, resembling first stages of endocytosis. The suggested interplay between charge density and ligand length has important implications when designing nanoparticles for drug and gene delivery applications. Moreover, control of charge densities may induce internalization of nanoparticles into cells through different mechanisms such as passive translocation, for nanoparticles with low charge density, or endocytosis for higher charge densities, highlighting the role of surface chemistry in nanoparticle-cell interactions.

Direct calculation of 1-octanol-water partition coefficients from adaptive biasing force molecular dynamics simulations

The 1-octanol-water partition coefficient log K(ow) of a solute is a key parameter used in the prediction of a wide variety of complex phenomena such as drug availability and bioaccumulation potential of trace contaminants. In this work, adaptive biasing force molecular dynamics simulations are used to determine absolute free energies of hydration, solvation, and 1-octanol-water partition coefficients for n-alkanes from methane to octane. Two approaches are evaluated; the direct transfer of the solute from 1-octanol to water phase, and separate transfers of the solute from the water or 1-octanol phase to vacuum, with both methods yielding statistically indistinguishable results. Calculations performed with the TIP4P and SPC∕E water models and the TraPPE united-atom force field for n-alkanes show that the choice of water model has a negligible effect on predicted free energies of transfer and partition coefficients for n-alkanes. A comparison of calculations using wet and dry octanol phases shows that the predictions for log K(ow) using wet octanol are 0.2-0.4 log units lower than for dry octanol, although this is within the statistical uncertainty of the calculation.

Geometry determination of complexes in a molecular liquid mixture using electron-vibration-vibration two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy with a vibrational transition density cube method

We demonstrate the use of a new vibrational transition density cube (VTDC) method for determining the geometry of complexes in a molecular liquid mixture from electron-vibration-vibration two-dimensional infrared (EVV 2DIR) spectra. The VTDC method was used to calculate the electrically-mediated intermolecular vibrational coupling and thereby the EVV 2DIR spectra. Using the 1:1 benzonitrile-phenylacetylene (BN-PA) liquid mixture as a test case, the new method leads to a distance of 3.60 Å between the interacting BN-PA pair, a much more accurate value than the distance previously obtained using a dipolar approximation for the electrical coupling. We also show that molecular dynamics simulations of the liquid mixture predict a modal geometry of complexation which agrees well with the geometry determined from the 2DIR data via VTDC analysis. We therefore conclude the combination of VTDC and EVV 2DIR data is a useful approach for the determination of the geometry of molecular complexes in the condensed phase.

Mass spectrometry--from peripheral proteins to membrane motors

That membrane protein complexes could survive in the gas phase had always seemed impossible. The lack of chargeable residues, high hydrophobicity, and poor solubility and the vast excess of detergent contributed to the view that it would not be possible to obtain mass spectra of intact membrane complexes. With the recent success in recording mass spectra of these complexes, first from recombinant sources and later from the cellular environment, many surprising properties of these gas phase membrane complexes have been revealed. The first of these was that the interactions between membrane and soluble subunits could survive in vacuum, without detergent molecules adhering to the complex. The second unexpected feature was that their hydrophobicity and, consequently, lower charge state did not preclude ionization. The final surprising finding was that these gas phase membrane complexes carry with them lipids, bound specifically in subunit interfaces. This provides us with an opportunity to distinguish annular lipids that surround the membrane complexes, from structural lipids that have a role in maintaining structure and subunit interactions. In this perspective, we track these developments and suggest explanations for the various discoveries made during this research.

Mechanism of bacterial signal transduction revealed by molecular dynamics of Tsr dimers and trimers of dimers in lipid vesicles

Bacterial chemoreceptors provide an important model for understanding signalling processes. In the serine receptor Tsr from E. coli, a binding event in the periplasmic domain of the receptor dimer causes a shift in a single transmembrane helix of roughly 0.15 nm towards the cytoplasm. This small change is propagated through the ∼22 nm length of the receptor, causing downstream inhibition of the kinase CheA. This requires interactions within a trimer of receptor dimers. Additionally, the signal is amplified across a 53,000 nm² array of chemoreceptor proteins, including ∼5,200 receptor trimers-of-dimers, at the cell pole. Despite a wealth of experimental data on the system, including high resolution structures of individual domains and extensive mutagenesis data, it remains uncertain how information is communicated across the receptor from the binding event to the downstream effectors. We present a molecular model of the entire Tsr dimer, and examine its behaviour using coarse-grained molecular dynamics and elastic network modelling. We observe a large bending in dimer models between the linker domain HAMP and coiled-coil domains, which is supported by experimental data. Models of the trimer of dimers, built from the dimer models, are more constrained and likely represent the signalling state. Simulations of the models in a 70 nm diameter vesicle with a biologically realistic lipid mixture reveal specific lipid interactions and oligomerisation of the trimer of dimers. The results indicate a mechanism whereby small motions of a single helix can be amplified through HAMP domain packing, to initiate large changes in the whole receptor structure.

To understand cell signalling events requires a physical model of the structure and behaviour of the signalling proteins involved. The methyl-accepting chemoreceptor proteins direct bacterial movement towards food sources and away from toxins. Based on experimental data we have built structural models of the serine chemoreceptor (Tsr) as a dimer, which is incapable of activating the downstream kinase CheA, and as a trimer of dimers, which can activate CheA. We have performed molecular dynamics simulation to reveal the behaviour of these two forms in a planar lipid bilayer and in a 70 nm diameter lipid vesicle with a mixture of lipids mimicking the E. coli inner membrane. We show that in isolation the dimers undergo a bending movement around the central HAMP domain, whereas the trimer-of-dimers model does not. Comparison with published experimental data suggests that these bending motions are real, and that they occur in the trimer of dimers only in response to ligand binding. Drawing together these observations with studies showing that the signalling event involves small piston motions in the transmembrane helices suggests that the bending motion is frustrated in the unliganded trimer of dimers, and that ligand binding induces bending by repacking the HAMP interface.

Avogadro: an advanced semantic chemical editor, visualization, and analysis platform

Background

The Avogadro project has developed an advanced molecule editor and visualizer designed for cross-platform use in computational chemistry, molecular modeling, bioinformatics, materials science, and related areas. It offers flexible, high quality rendering, and a powerful plugin architecture. Typical uses include building molecular structures, formatting input files, and analyzing output of a wide variety of computational chemistry packages. By using the CML file format as its native document type, Avogadro seeks to enhance the semantic accessibility of chemical data types.

Results

The work presented here details the Avogadro library, which is a framework providing a code library and application programming interface (API) with three-dimensional visualization capabilities; and has direct applications to research and education in the fields of chemistry, physics, materials science, and biology. The Avogadro application provides a rich graphical interface using dynamically loaded plugins through the library itself. The application and library can each be extended by implementing a plugin module in C++ or Python to explore different visualization techniques, build/manipulate molecular structures, and interact with other programs. We describe some example extensions, one which uses a genetic algorithm to find stable crystal structures, and one which interfaces with the PackMol program to create packed, solvated structures for molecular dynamics simulations. The 1.0 release series of Avogadro is the main focus of the results discussed here.

Conclusions

Avogadro offers a semantic chemical builder and platform for visualization and analysis. For users, it offers an easy-to-use builder, integrated support for downloading from common databases such as PubChem and the Protein Data Bank, extracting chemical data from a wide variety of formats, including computational chemistry output, and native, semantic support for the CML file format. For developers, it can be easily extended via a powerful plugin mechanism to support new features in organic chemistry, inorganic complexes, drug design, materials, biomolecules, and simulations. Avogadro is freely available under an open-source license from http://avogadro.openmolecules.net.

Properties of water in the interfacial region of a polyelectrolyte bilayer adsorbed onto a substrate studied by computer simulations

We study the static and dynamic properties of water near a poly(styrene sulfonate)/poly(diallyldimethylammonium) (PSS/PDADMA) bilayer adsorbed onto a substrate by atomistic molecular dynamics simulations. Qualitative changes in the dynamics of water in the proximity of the adsorbed bilayer are observed - such as in the lateral diffusion, residence time and hydrogen-bonding lifetime - as compared with water in the presence of the bare substrate. Static properties of water are similarly influenced, and a high polarization of water molecules is found to be present surprisingly far from the adsorbed bilayer.

Hydrated Ionic Liquids with and without Solute: The Influence of Water Content and Protein Solutes

In this computational study, the network of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate/water mixtures is analyzed in the presence (and absence) of the protein ubiquitin and a zinc finger motif. Thereby, common radial distribution functions are decomposed into contributions from different Voronoi shells, and the mutual orientation of cations, anions, and water in the bulk phase as a function of the water mole fraction is discussed. Single particle translation and the reorientation of the dipolar axis seem to follow hydrodynamic relations. Using the body-fixed frame as an alternative reference system, translation and rotation can be decomposed into contributions along and about the axes of a well-defined orthogonal trihedron, thus elucidating the principal motions of the cations and anions as a function of the water mole fraction. The structural dipolar orientation may be correlated with single particle dynamics and can be characterized by the static collective Kirkwood order parameter.

Molecular dynamics study of catanionic bilayers composed of ion pair amphiphile with double-tailed cationic surfactant

The physical stability of catanionic vesicles is important for the development of novel drug or DNA carriers. For investigating the mechanism by which catanionic vesicles are stabilized, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation is an attractive approach that provides microscopic structural information on the vesicular bilayer. In this study, MD simulation was applied to investigate the bilayer properties of catanionic vesicles composed of an ion pair amphiphile (IPA), hexadecyltrimethylammonium-dodecylsulfate (HTMA-DS), and a double-tailed cationic surfactant, ditetradecyldimethylammonium chloride (DTDAC). Structural information regarding membrane elasticity and the organization and conformation of surfactant molecules was obtained based on the resulting trajectory. Simulation results showed that a proper amount of DTDAC could be used to complement the asymmetric structure between HTMA and DS, resulting in an ordered hydrocarbon chain packing within the rigid membrane observed in the mixed HTMA-DS/DTDAC system. The coexistence of gel and fluid phases was also observed in the presence of excess DTDAC. MD simulation results agreed well with results obtained from experimental studies examining mixed HTMA-DS/DTDAB vesicles.