Probing the surface of proteins to predict the binding site and binding affinity for a given small molecule is a critical but challenging task in drug discovery. Blind docking addresses this issue by ...performing docking on binding regions randomly sampled from the entire protein surface. However, compared with local docking, blind docking is less accurate and reliable because the docking space is too largetly sampled. Cavity detection-guided blind docking methods improved the accuracy by using cavity detection (also known as binding site detection) tools to guide the docking procedure. However, it is worth noting that the performance of these methods heavily relies on the quality of the cavity detection tool. This constraint, namely the dependence on a single cavity detection tool, significantly impacts the overall performance of cavity detection-guided methods. To overcome this limitation, we proposed
Co
nsensus
B
lind
Dock
(CoBDock), a novel blind, parallel docking method that uses machine learning algorithms to integrate docking and cavity detection results to improve not only binding site identification but also pose prediction accuracy. Our experiments on several datasets, including PDBBind 2020, ADS, MTi, DUD-E, and CASF-2016, showed that CoBDock has better binding site and binding mode performance than other state-of-the-art cavity detector tools and blind docking methods.
The development of fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithms enabled the sampling of billions of complex conformations and thus revolutionized protein-protein docking. FFT-based methods are now widely ...available and have been used in hundreds of thousands of docking calculations. Although the methods perform “soft” docking, which allows for some overlap of component proteins, the rigid body assumption clearly introduces limitations on accuracy and reliability. In addition, the method can work only with energy expressions represented by sums of correlation functions. In this paper we use a well-established protein-protein docking benchmark set to evaluate the results of these limitations by focusing on the performance of the docking server ClusPro, which implements one of the best rigid body methods. Furthermore, we explore the theoretical limits of accuracy when using established energy terms for scoring, provide comparison with flexible docking algorithms, and review the historical performance of servers in the CAPRI docking experiment.
Display omitted
•Protein-protein docking by fast Fourier transform (FFT) samples billions of conformations•FFT-based methods need rigid body approximation and scoring by correlation functions•Rigid methods yield more good models in the top 5 predictions than flexible docking•Flexible methods yield higher accuracy models for some targets
Rigid body docking methods, represented here by the ClusPro server, provide acceptable or better models for more complexes than flexible docking methods, but the latter can yield higher accuracy for some targets. In spite of its shortcomings, ClusPro has over 15,000 registered users, and in 2019 performed 98,300 docking calculations.
Computational structural prediction of macromolecular interactions is a fundamental tool toward the global understanding of cellular processes. The Critical Assessment of PRediction of Interactions ...(CAPRI) community‐wide experiment provides excellent opportunities for blind testing computational docking methods and includes original targets, thus widening the range of docking applications. Our participation in CAPRI rounds 38 to 45 enabled us to expand the way we include evolutionary information in structural predictions beyond our standard free docking InterEvDock pipeline. InterEvDock integrates a coarse‐grained potential that accounts for interface coevolution based on joint multiple sequence alignments of two protein partners (co‐alignments). However, even though such co‐alignments could be built for none of the CAPRI targets in rounds 38 to 45, including host‐pathogen and protein‐oligosaccharide complexes and a redesigned interface, we identified multiple strategies that can be used to incorporate evolutionary constraints, which helped us to identify the most likely macromolecular binding modes. These strategies include template‐based modeling where only local adjustments should be applied when query‐template sequence identity is above 30% and larger perturbations are needed below this threshold; covariation‐based structure prediction for individual protein partners; and the identification of evolutionarily conserved and structurally recurrent anchoring interface motifs. Overall, we submitted correct predictions among the top 5 models for 12 out of 19 interface challenges, including four High‐ and five Medium‐quality predictions. Our top 20 models included correct predictions for three out of the five targets we missed in the top 5, including two targets for which misleading biological data led us to downgrade correct free docking models.
We participated in CARPI rounds 38‐45 both as a server predictor and a human predictor. These CAPRI rounds provided excellent opportunities for testing prediction methods for three classes of protein ...interactions, that is, protein‐protein, protein‐peptide, and protein‐oligosaccharide interactions. Both template‐based methods (GalaxyTBM for monomer protein, GalaxyHomomer for homo‐oligomer protein, GalaxyPepDock for protein‐peptide complex) and ab initio docking methods (GalaxyTongDock and GalaxyPPDock for protein oligomer, GalaxyPepDock‐ab‐initio for protein‐peptide complex, GalaxyDock2 and Galaxy7TM for protein‐oligosaccharide complex) have been tested. Template‐based methods depend heavily on the availability of proper templates and template‐target similarity, and template‐target difference is responsible for inaccuracy of template‐based models. Inaccurate template‐based models could be improved by our structure refinement and loop modeling methods based on physics‐based energy optimization (GalaxyRefineComplex and GalaxyLoop) for several CAPRI targets. Current ab initio docking methods require accurate protein structures as input. Small conformational changes from input structure could be accounted for by our docking methods, producing one of the best models for several CAPRI targets. However, predicting large conformational changes involving protein backbone is still challenging, and full exploration of physics‐based methods for such problems is still to come.
The AutoDock suite at 30 Goodsell, David S.; Sanner, Michel F.; Olson, Arthur J. ...
Protein science,
January 2021, Letnik:
30, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The AutoDock suite provides a comprehensive toolset for computational ligand docking and drug design and development. The suite builds on 30 years of methods development, including empirical free ...energy force fields, docking engines, methods for site prediction, and interactive tools for visualization and analysis. Specialized tools are available for challenging systems, including covalent inhibitors, peptides, compounds with macrocycles, systems where ordered hydration plays a key role, and systems with substantial receptor flexibility. All methods in the AutoDock suite are freely available for use and reuse, which has engendered the continued growth of a diverse community of primary users and third‐party developers.
Molecular docking has been consolidated as one of the most important methods in the molecular modeling field. It has been recognized as a prominent tool in the study of protein-ligand complexes, to ...describe intermolecular interactions, to accurately predict poses of multiple ligands, to discover novel promising bioactive compounds. Molecular docking methods have evolved in terms of their accuracy and reliability; but there are pending issues to solve for improving the connection between the docking results and the experimental evidence.
In this article, the author reviews very recent innovative molecular docking applications with special emphasis on reverse docking, treatment of protein flexibility, the use of experimental data to guide the selection of docking poses, the application of Quantum mechanics(QM) in docking, and covalent docking.
There are several issues being worked on in recent years that will lead to important breakthroughs in molecular docking methods in the near future These developments are related to more efficient exploration of large datasets and receptor conformations, advances in electronic description, and the use of structural information for guiding the selection of results.
Molecular docking is the most frequently used computational method for studying the interactions between organic molecules and biological macromolecules. In this context, docking allows predicting ...the preferred pose of a ligand inside a receptor binding site. However, the selection of the “best” solution is not a trivial task, despite the widely accepted selection criterion that the best pose corresponds to the best energy score. Here, several rigid-target docking methods were evaluated on the same dataset with respect to their ability to reproduce crystallographic binding orientations, to test if the best energy score is a reliable criterion for selecting the best solution. For this, two experiments were performed: (A) to reconstruct the ligand-receptor complex by performing docking of the ligand in its own crystal structure receptor (defined as self-docking), and (B) to reconstruct the ligand-receptor complex by performing docking of the ligand in a crystal structure receptor that contains other ligand (defined as cross-docking). Root-mean square deviation (RMSD) was used to evaluate how different the obtained docking orientation is from the corresponding co-crystallized pose of the same ligand molecule. We found that docking score function is capable of predicting crystallographic binding orientations, but the best ranked solution according to the docking energy is not always the pose that reproduces the experimental binding orientation. This happened when self-docking was achieved, but it was critical in cross-docking. Taking into account that docking is typically used with predictive purposes, during cross-docking experiments, our results indicate that the best energy score is not a reliable criterion to select the best solution in common docking applications. It is strongly recommended to choose the best docking solution according to the scoring function along with additional structural criteria described for analogue ligands to assure the selection of a correct docking solution.