Cited by 410Protein Structure and DynamicsRNA and protein synthesis mechanismsAdvanced Physical and Chemical Molecular Interactions

To milliseconds and beyond: challenges in the simulation of protein folding

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Lane, Thomas J, Shukla, Diwakar, Beauchamp, Kyle A, Pande, Vijay S·2013·Current Opinion in Structural Biology

Abstract

Quantitatively accurate all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of protein folding have long been considered a holy grail of computational biology. Due to the large system sizes and long timescales involved, such a pursuit was for many years computationally intractable. Further, sufficiently accurate forcefields needed to be developed in order to realistically model folding. This decade, however, saw the first reports of folding simulations describing kinetics on the order of milliseconds, placing many proteins firmly within reach of these methods. Progress in sampling and forcefield accuracy, however, presents a new challenge: how to turn huge MD datasets into scientific understanding. Here, we review recent progress in MD simulation techniques and show how the vast datasets generated by such techniques present new challenges for analysis. We critically discuss the state of the art, including reaction coordinate and Markov state model (MSM) methods, and provide a perspective for the future.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.sbi.2012.11.002

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  • The timescales relevant to biomolecular folding and function (often microseconds to seconds) are enormously long compared to the timesteps required for stable integration (generally femtoseconds).

    “the timescales relevant to biomolecular folding and function (often microseconds to seconds) are enormously long compared to the timesteps required for stable integration (generally femtoseconds) [1]”

    From Markov state models of biomolecular conformational dynamics (2014) · cites this paper as [1]

    The Introduction (page unavailable) says classical simulations use femtosecond timesteps and require about 10¹² steps to reach millisecond folding timescales, supporting the large timescale gap. It also discusses microsecond folding times, but the passages do not establish that folding and function often extend to seconds. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Numerous challenges have traditionally stood in the way of simulations reaching experimentally relevant timescales and gathering sufficient statistics to make definitive statements about protein folding mechanism.

    “However, numerous challenges have traditionally stood in the way of simulations reaching experimentally relevant timescales and gathering sufficient statistics to make definitive statements about protein folding mechanism [1].”
  • MSMs can predict kinetic quantities on long timescales (e.g., milliseconds) using shorter MD simulations.

    “MSMs can predict kinetic quantities on long timescales (e.g. milliseconds) using a set of much shorter MD simulations.395–396”

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Authors
Lane, T. J., Shukla, D., Beauchamp, K. A., & Pande, V. S.
Affiliations
Stanford University (US)
Corresponding author
Pande, Vijay S
Venue
Current Opinion in Structural Biology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2013-02
Volume
23
Issue
1
Pages
58-65
ISSN
0959-440X (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2039369142
Cited by
409
References
92
Citations by year
2026: 13 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 26 · 2018: 38 · 2017: 70 · 2016: 38 · 2015: 44 · 2014: 36 · 2013: 20
FWCI
2.92
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Current Opinion in Structural Biology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Simbios NIH Center for Biomedical Computation (GM072970)
  • NIH (R01GM62828)
  • NSF GRF
  • Stanford Graduate Fellowship
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protein Structure and Dynamics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
  • Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Physical and Theoretical Chemistry › Advanced Physical and Chemical Molecular Interactions
Keywords
protein folding, all-atom molecular dynamics, folding kinetics, force fields, reaction coordinate, Markov state models, sampling efficiency
MeSH terms
Kinetics, Proteins, Protein Folding, Molecular Dynamics Simulation

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