Chaisson Emily H, Heberle Frederick A, Doktorova Milka
Department of Chemistry, University of Tennessee Knoxville, Knoxville, TN 37916, USA.
Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA.
Membranes (Basel). 2023 Jun 29;13(7):629. doi: 10.3390/membranes13070629.
The compositional asymmetry of biological membranes has attracted significant attention over the last decade. Harboring more differences from symmetric membranes than previously appreciated, asymmetric bilayers have proven quite challenging to study with familiar concepts and techniques, leaving many unanswered questions about the reach of the asymmetry effects. One particular area of active research is the computational investigation of composition- and number-asymmetric lipid bilayers with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Offering a high level of detail into the organization and properties of the simulated systems, MD has emerged as an indispensable tool in the study of membrane asymmetry. However, the realization that results depend heavily on the protocol used for constructing the asymmetric bilayer models has sparked an ongoing debate about how to choose the most appropriate approach. Here we discuss the underlying source of the discrepant results and review the existing methods for creating asymmetric bilayers for MD simulations. Considering the available data, we argue that each method is well suited for specific applications and hence there is no single best approach. Instead, the choice of a construction protocol-and consequently, its perceived accuracy-must be based primarily on the scientific question that the simulations are designed to address.
在过去十年中,生物膜的组成不对称性引起了广泛关注。与对称膜相比,不对称双层膜存在更多差异,事实证明,用熟悉的概念和技术来研究不对称双层膜极具挑战性,这使得许多关于不对称效应范围的问题仍未得到解答。一个活跃的研究领域是利用分子动力学(MD)模拟对组成和数量不对称的脂质双层膜进行计算研究。MD模拟能够提供关于模拟系统的组织和性质的高度详细信息,已成为研究膜不对称性不可或缺的工具。然而,人们意识到结果在很大程度上取决于构建不对称双层膜模型所采用的方案,这引发了一场关于如何选择最合适方法的持续争论。在此,我们讨论结果差异的潜在根源,并回顾现有的用于创建MD模拟不对称双层膜的方法。考虑到现有数据,我们认为每种方法都非常适合特定的应用,因此不存在单一的最佳方法。相反,构建方案的选择以及由此产生的其准确性认知,必须主要基于模拟旨在解决的科学问题。
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