title: A sphere-based model for the electrostatics of globular proteins.
abstract: We propose a model for the electrostatics of globular proteins in which the low dielectric region is replaced by concentric spheres of the appropriate size. The method uses analytical formulas for the dielectric sphere and allows an efficient and accurate treatment of bulk charges. For surface charges, we propose a numerical determination of the sphere radius based on the solvent exposure of the individual atoms. The present implementation of the sphere model yields a good approximation of finite-difference Poisson solvation and interaction energies for a test set of 12 proteins.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Werner
authors.forename: Amedeo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caflisch
mesh_terms: D008956:Models, Chemical; D017510:Protein Folding; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D055672:Static Electricity; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins