Membrane protein dynamics from femtoseconds to seconds.

Membrane proteins play a key role in energy conversion, transport, signal recognition, transduction, and other fundamental biological processes. Despite considerable progress in experimental techniques, the determination of structure and dynamics of membrane proteins still represents a great challenge. Computer simulation methods are becoming an increasingly important tool not only in the interpretation of experiments but also in the prediction of membrane protein dynamics. In the present review, we give a brief introduction to molecular modeling techniques currently used to explore protein dynamics on time scales ranging from femtoseconds to microseconds. We then describe a few recent example applications of these techniques to membrane proteins. In conclusion, we also discuss some of the newest developments in simulation methodology that have the potential to further extend the time scale accessible to explore (membrane) protein dynamics.