FIREBALL/AMBER: An Efficient Local-Orbital DFT QM/MM Method for Biomolecular Systems

In recent years, quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) methods have become an important computational tool for the study of chemical reactions and other processes in biomolecular systems. In the QM/MM technique, the active region is described by means of QM calculations, while the remainder of the system is described using a MM approach. Because of the complexity of biomolecules and the desire to achieve converged sampling, it is important that the QM method presents a good balance between accuracy and computational efficiency. Here, we report on the implementation of a QM/MM technique that combines a DFT approach specially designed for the study of complex systems using first-principles molecular dynamics simulations (FIREBALL) with the AMBER force fields and simulation programs. We also present examples of the application of this QM/MM approach to three representative biomolecular systems: the analysis of the effect of electrostatic embedding in the behavior of a salt bridge between an aspartic acid and a lysine residue, a study of the intermediate states for the triosephosphate isomerase catalyzed conversion of dihydroxyacetone phosphate into glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate, and the detailed description, using DFT QM/MM molecular dynamics, of the cleavage of a phosphodiester bond in RNA catalyzed by the enzyme RNase A.