Abstract
Molecular modeling of lipid membranes has been an evolving field over the last 40 years. This chapter provides a brief historical background of simulations and provides an introductory overview of computational membrane modeling at the molecular level. The development of lipid force fields (FFs) at various levels (atomistic to coarse grained) has allowed for accurate descriptions of membrane properties. The current diversity in lipids available in FFs currently allows researchers to model representative membrane models across the biota spectrum. Modeling is not limited to lipids, and many functional studies of cellular membranes focus on membrane-associated proteins that reside in or interact with the surface of the membrane. The field of molecular membrane modeling is in an exciting stage to grow and investigate a wide array of biological phenomena.
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Some of the research presented here and time spent on writing this work was supported by the NSF grant MCB-1149187.
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Khakbaz, P., Monje-Galvan, V., Zhuang, X., Klauda, J.B. (2019). Modeling Lipid Membranes. In: Geiger, O. (eds) Biogenesis of Fatty Acids, Lipids and Membranes. Handbook of Hydrocarbon and Lipid Microbiology . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50430-8_52
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