arXiv subjects

Gregory A. Chass

Publications and source records attributed to Gregory A. Chass.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2008

Efficient model chemistries for peptides. II. Basis set convergence in the B3LYP method

Small peptides are model molecules for the amino acid residues that are the constituents of proteins. In any bottom-up approach to understand the properties of these macromolecules essential in the functioning of every living being, to correctly describe the conformational behaviour of small peptides constitutes an unavoidable first step. In this work, we present an study of several potential energy surfaces (PESs) of the model dipeptide HCO-L-Ala-NH2. The PESs are calculated using the B3LYP density-functional theory (DFT) method, with Dunning's basis sets cc-pVDZ, aug-cc-pVDZ, cc-pVTZ, aug-cc-pVTZ, and cc-pVQZ. These calculations, whose cost amounts to approximately 10 years of computer time, allow us to study the basis set convergence of the B3LYP method for this model peptide. Also, we compare the B3LYP PESs to a previous computation at the MP2/6-311++G(2df,2pd) level, in order to assess their accuracy with respect to a higher level reference. All data sets have been analyzed according to a general framework which can be extended to other complex problems and which captures the nearness concept in the space of model chemistries (MCs).

q-bio.QM↗

arXiv2004

Do theoretical physicists care about the protein-folding problem?

The prediction of the biologically active native conformation of a protein is one of the fundamental challenges of structural biology. This problem remains yet unsolved mainly due to three factors: the partial knowledge of the effective free energy function that governs the folding process, the enormous size of the conformational space of a protein and, finally, the relatively small differences of energy between conformations, in particular, between the native one and the ones that make up the unfolded state. Herein, we recall the importance of taking into account, in a detailed manner, the many interactions involved in the protein folding problem (such as steric volume exclusion, Ramachandran forces, hydrogen bonds, weakly polar interactions, coulombic energy or hydrophobic attraction) and we propose a strategy to effectively construct a free energy function that, including the effects of the solvent, could be numerically tractable. It must be pointed out that, since the internal free energy function that is mainly described does not include the constraints of the native conformation, it could only help to reach the 'molten globule' state. We also discuss about the limits and the lacks from which suffer the simple models that we, physicists, love so much.

q-bio.BM↗