title: Effect of warmup protocol and sampling time on convergence of molecular dynamics simulations of a DNA dodecamer using AMBER 4.1 and particle-mesh Ewald method.
abstract: This report describes one 3000 ps and two 1500 ps molecular dynamic simulations on a TATA box containing dodecamer DNA duplex in a periodic box of TIP3P water molecules, using the AMBER 4.1 implementation of the particle-mesh Ewald method. We compare the effect of warmup protocol and simulation time length on the root-mean square deviation (RMSD) parameter. For the longer simulation, the RMSD computed for the 500-1000 ps time interval is representative of longer time intervals, including 500-3000 ps. The various warmup protocols do not appear to have a significant effect on the simulation results. Based on the present results, DNA sequence-dependent differences in RMSD, or related properties, should exceed two standard deviations before being attributed to non-simulation factors, such as warmup protocol and sampling time effects; we recommend a minimum criterion of at least a three standard deviation difference with a sampling period of at least 500-1000 ps. In addition, while end effects appear negligible there is a consistent dependence of RMSD on DNA helix length.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Norberto de Souza
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Ornstein
mesh_terms: D000256:Adenoviridae / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides / Q000737:chemistry*; D012984:Software; D016385:TATA Box; D013816:Thermodynamics; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D004247:DNA