Molecular dynamics simulations of lipid bilayers

Computer simulation methods are becoming increasingly widespread as tools for studying the structure and dynamics of Lipid bilayer membranes. The length scale and time scale accessible to atomic-level molecular dynamics simulations are rapidly increasing, providing insight into the relatively slow motions of molecular reorientation and translation and demonstrating that effects due to the finite size of the simulation cell can influence simulation results. Additionally, significant advances have been made in the complexity of membrane systems studied, including bilayers with cholesterol, small solute molecules, and lipid-protein and lipid-DNA complexes. Especially promising is the progress that continues to be made in the comparison of simulation results with experiment, both to validate the simulation algorithms and to aid in the interpretation of existing experimental data. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.