Charge equilibration force fields for molecular dynamics simulations of lipids, bilayers, and integral membrane protein systems

With the continuing advances in computational hardware and novel force fields constructed using quantum mechanics, the outlook for non-additive force fields is promising. Our work in the past several years has demonstrated the utility of polarizable force fields, those based on the charge equilibration formalism, for a broad range of physical and biophysical systems. We have constructed and applied polarizable force fields for lipids and lipid bilayers. In this review of our recent work, we discuss the formalism we have adopted for implementing the charge equilibration (CHEQ) method for lipid molecules. We discuss the methodology, related issues, and briefly discuss results from recent applications of such force fields. Application areas include DPPC-water monolayers, potassium ion permeation free energetics in the gramicidin A bacterial channel, and free energetics of permeation of charged amino acid analogs across the water-bilayer interface. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Membrane protein structure and function.