Folding Trp-cage to NMR resolution native structure using a coarse-grained protein model

We develop a coarse-grained protein model with a simplified amino acid interaction potential. Using this model, we perform discrete molecular dynamics folding simulations of a small 20-residue protein-Trp-cage-from a fully extended conformation. We demonstrate the ability of the Trp-cage model to consistently reach conformations within 2-Å backbone root-mean-square distance from the corresponding NMR structures. The minimum root-mean-square distance of Trp-cage conformations in simulations can be < 1 Å. Our findings suggest that, at least in the case of Trp-cage, a detailed all-atom protein model with a molecular mechanics force field is not necessary to reach the native state of a protein. Our results also suggest that the success of folding Trp-cage in our simulations and in the reported all-atom molecular mechanics simulation studies may be mainly due to the special stabilizing features specific to this miniprotein.