Molecular dynamics simulations of large integral membrane proteins with an implicit membrane model

The heterogeneous dielectric generalized Born (HDGB) methodology is an the extension of the GBMV model for the simulation of integral membrane proteins with an implicit membrane environment. Three large integral membrane proteins, the bacteriorhodopsin monomer and trimer and the BtuCD protein, were simulated with the HDGB model in order to evaluate how well thermodynamic and dynamic properties are reproduced. Effects of the truncation of electrostatic interactions were examined. For all proteins, the HDGB model was able to generate stable trajectories that remained close to the starting experimental structures, in excellent agreement with explicit membrane simulations. Dynamic properties evaluated through a comparison of B-factors are also in good agreement with experiment and explicit membrane simulations. However, overall flexibility was slightly underestimated with the HDGB model unless a very large electrostatic cutoff is employed. Results with the HDGB model are further compared with equivalent simulations in implicit aqueous solvent, demonstrating that the membrane environment leads to more realistic simulations.