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Published on: January 26, 2024
Flat-Bottom Strategy for Improved Accuracy in Protein Side-Chain Placements
Victor Wai Tak Kam1, William A Goddard1
1Materials and Process Simulation Center (MC-139-74), California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125.
Abstract:
We present a new strategy for protein side-chain placement that uses flat-bottom potentials for rotamer scoring. The extent of the flat bottom depends on the coarseness of the rotamer library and is optimized for libraries ranging from diversities of 0.2 Å to 5.0 Å. The parameters reported here were optimized for forcefields using Lennard-Jones 12-6 van der Waals potential with DREIDING parameters but are expected to be similar for AMBER, CHARMM, and other forcefields. This Side-Chain Rotamer Excitation Analysis Method is implemented in the SCREAM software package. Similar scoring function strategies should be useful for ligand docking, virtual ligand screening, and protein folding applications.
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