Computer simulation studies of biomembranes using a coarse grain model Original Research Article

A computationally efficient coarse grain (CG) model designed to mimic the lipid molecule, dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) is used to study the self-assembly of a lamellar bilayer starting from a disordered configuration. The utility of the CG model is illustrated by examining structural and dynamical properties of a hydrated bilayer system containing 1024 lipid molecules. Comparisons with results for an all-atom model of DMPC suggest that the CG model is about four orders of magnitude less demanding of CPU time.