@article {2015|1965, title = {An integrative approach to the study of filamentous oligomeric assemblies, with application to {R}ec{A}}, journal = {Plos One}, volume = {in press}, year = {2015}, pages = {e0116414}, abstract = {

Oligomeric macromolecules in the cell self-organize into a wide variety of geometrical motifs such as helices, rings or linear filaments. The recombinase proteins involved in homologous recombination present many such assembly motifs. Here, we examine in particular the polymorphic characteristics of RecA, the most studied member of the recombinase family, using an integrative approach that relates local modes of monomer/monomer association to the global architecture of their screw-type organization. In our approach, local modes of association are sampled via docking or Monte Carlo simulations. This enables shedding new light on fiber morphologies that may be adopted by the RecA protein. Two distinct RecA helical morphologies, the so-called \"extended\" and \"compressed\" forms, are known to play a role in homologous recombination. We investigate the variability within each form in terms of helical parameters and steric accessibility. We also address possible helical discontinuities in RecA filaments due to multiple monomer-monomer association modes. By relating local interface organization to global filament morphology, the strategies developed here to study RecA self-assembly are particularly well suited to other DNA-binding proteins and to filamentous protein assemblies in general.

}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0116414}, author = {Benjamin Boyer and Johann Ezelin and Pierre Poulain and A Saladin and Martin Zacharias and Charles H. Robert and Chantal Pr{\'e}vost} } @article {2012|1934, title = {{ATTRACT} and {PTOOLS}: {O}pen source programs for protein-protein docking}, journal = {Methods Mol. Biol.}, volume = {819}, year = {2012}, pages = {221{\textendash}232}, abstract = {

The prediction of the structure of protein-protein complexes based on structures or structural models of isolated partners is of increasing importance for structural biology and bioinformatics. The ATTRACT program can be used to perform systematic docking searches based on docking energy minimization. It is part of the object-oriented PTools library written in Python and C++. The library contains various routines to manipulate protein structures, to prepare and perform docking searches as well as analyzing docking results. It also intended to facilitate further methodological developments in the area of macromolecular docking that can be easily integrated. Here, we describe the application of PTools to perform systematic docking searches and to analyze the results. In addition, the possibility to perform multi-component docking will also be presented.

}, doi = {10.1007/978-1-61779-465-0_15}, author = {Schneider, S. and A Saladin and Fiorucci, S. and Chantal Pr{\'e}vost and Martin Zacharias} } @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 {2010|1512, title = {{M}odeling the early stage of {D}{N}{A} sequence recognition within {R}ec{A} nucleoprotein filaments}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Res.}, volume = {38}, year = {2010}, month = {oct}, pages = {6313{\textendash}6323}, author = {A Saladin and Amourda, C. and Poulain, P. and Nicolas F{\'e}rey and Marc Baaden and Martin Zacharias and Delalande, O. and Chantal Pr{\'e}vost} } @inbook {2010|1758, title = {Protein-Protein Docking}, booktitle = {Protein-Protein Complexes. Analysis, Modeling and Drug Design}, year = {2010}, pages = {147{\textendash}181}, publisher = {Imperial College Press}, organization = {Imperial College Press}, chapter = {6}, author = {A Saladin and Chantal Pr{\'e}vost}, editor = {Martin Zacharias} } @article {2009|1392, title = {{PT}ools: an opensource molecular docking library.}, journal = {Bmc Struct. Biol.}, volume = {9}, year = {2009}, pages = {27{\textendash}37}, doi = {10.1186/1472-6807-9-27}, author = {A Saladin and Fiorucci, S and Poulain, P and Chantal Pr{\'e}vost and Martin Zacharias} } @article {2008|1662, title = {Insights on protein-DNA recognition by coarse grain modelling}, journal = {J. Comput. Chem.}, volume = {29}, year = {2008}, month = {nov}, pages = {2582{\textendash}92}, abstract = {

Coarse grain modelling of macromolecules is a new approach, potentially well adapted to answer numerous issues, ranging from physics to biology. We propose here an original DNA coarse grain model specifically dedicated to protein-DNA docking, a crucial, but still largely unresolved, question in molecular biology. Using a representative set of protein-DNA complexes, we first show that our model is able to predict the interaction surface between the macromolecular partners taken in their bound form. In a second part, the impact of the DNA sequence and electrostatics, together with the DNA and protein conformations on docking is investigated. Our results strongly suggest that the overall DNA structure mainly contributes in discriminating the interaction site on cognate proteins. Direct electrostatic interactions between phosphate groups and amino acid side chains strengthen the binding. Overall, this work demonstrates that coarse grain modeling can reveal itself a precious auxiliary for a general and complete description and understanding of protein-DNA association mechanisms.

}, doi = {10.1002/jcc.21014}, author = {Poulain, P and A Saladin and Hartmann, B and Chantal Pr{\'e}vost} }