@article {2011|1654, title = {Accounting for large amplitude protein deformation during in silico macromolecular docking}, journal = {Int. J. Mol. Sci.}, volume = {12}, year = {2011}, pages = {1316{\textendash}33}, abstract = {

Rapid progress of theoretical methods and computer calculation resources has turned in silico methods into a conceivable tool to predict the 3D structure of macromolecular assemblages, starting from the structure of their separate elements. Still, some classes of complexes represent a real challenge for macromolecular docking methods. In these complexes, protein parts like loops or domains undergo large amplitude deformations upon association, thus remodeling the surface accessible to the partner protein or DNA. We discuss the problems linked with managing such rearrangements in docking methods and we review strategies that are presently being explored, as well as their limitations and success.

}, keywords = {flexibility, macromolecular docking, protein loops and domains}, doi = {10.3390/ijms12021316}, author = {Bastard, Karine and A Saladin and Chantal Pr{\'e}vost} } @article {2011|1653, title = {On the characterization and selection of diverse conformational ensembles with applications to flexible docking}, journal = {Ieee/acm Trans. Comput. Biol. Bioinform.}, volume = {8}, year = {2011}, pages = {487{\textendash}98}, abstract = {

To address challenging flexible docking problems, a number of docking algorithms pregenerate large collections of candidate conformers. To remove the redundancy from such ensembles, a central problem in this context is to report a selection of conformers maximizing some geometric diversity criterion. We make three contributions to this problem. First, we resort to geometric optimization so as to report selections maximizing the molecular volume or molecular surface area (MSA) of the selection. Greedy strategies are developed, together with approximation bounds. Second, to assess the efficacy of our algorithms, we investigate two conformer ensembles corresponding to a flexible loop of four protein complexes. By focusing on the MSA of the selection, we show that our strategy matches the MSA of standard selection methods, but resorting to a number of conformers between one and two orders of magnitude smaller. This observation is qualitatively explained using the Betti numbers of the union of balls of the selection. Finally, we replace the conformer selection problem in the context of multiple-copy flexible docking. On the aforementioned systems, we show that using the loops selected by our strategy can improve the result of the docking process.

}, doi = {10.1109/TCBB.2009.59}, author = {Loriot, S{\'e}bastien and Sachdeva, Sushant and Bastard, Karine and Chantal Pr{\'e}vost and Fr{\'e}d{\'e}ric Cazals} } @article {2003|1663, title = {Docking macromolecules with flexible segments}, journal = {J. Comput. Chem.}, volume = {24}, year = {2003}, month = {nov}, pages = {1910{\textendash}20}, abstract = {

We address a major obstacle to macromolecular docking algorithms by presenting a new method that takes into account the induced conformational adjustment of flexible loops situated at a protein/macromolecule interface. The method, MC2, is based on a multiple copy representation of the loops, coupled with a Monte Carlo conformational search of the relative position of the macromolecules and their side chain conformations. The selection of optimal loop conformations takes place during Monte Carlo cycling by the iterative adjustment of the weight of each copy. We describe here the parameterization of the method and trials on a protein-DNA complex of known 3-D structure, involving the Drosophila prd paired domain protein and its target oligonucleotide Wenqing, X. et al., Cell 1995, 80, 639. We demonstrate that our algorithm can correctly configure and position this protein, despite its relatively complex interactions with both grooves of DNA.

}, doi = {10.1002/jcc.10329}, author = {Bastard, Karine and Thureau, Aur{\'e}lien and Richard Lavery and Chantal Pr{\'e}vost} }