PreprintCited by 70Protein Structure and DynamicsComputational Drug Discovery MethodsEnzyme Structure and Function

Improved Docking of Protein Models by a Combination of Alphafold2 and ClusPro

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Ghani, Usman, Desta, Israel, Jindal, Akhil, Khan, Omeir, Jones, George, Hashemi, Nasser, Kotelnikov, Sergey, Padhorny, Dzmitry +2 more·2021·bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

Abstract

It has been demonstrated earlier that the neural network based program AlphaFold2 can be used to dock proteins given the two sequences separated by a gap as the input. The protocol presented here combines AlphaFold2 with the physics based docking program ClusPro. The monomers of the model generated by AlphaFold2 are separated, re-docked using ClusPro, and the resulting 10 models are refined by AlphaFold2. Finally, the five original AlphaFold2 models are added to the 10 AlphaFold2 refined ClusPro models, and the 15 models are ranked by their predicted aligned error (PAE) values obtained by AlphaFold2. The protocol is applied to two benchmark sets of complexes, the first based on the established protein-protein docking benchmark, and the second consisting of only structures released after May 2018, the cut-off date for training AlphaFold2. It is shown that the quality of the initial AlphaFold2 models improves with each additional step of the protocol. In particular, adding the AlphaFold2 refined ClusPro models to the AlphaFold2 models increases the success rate by 23% in the top 5 predictions, whereas considering the 10 models obtained by the combined protocol increases the success rate to close to 40%. The improvement is similar for the second benchmark that includes only complexes distinct from the proteins used for training the neural network.

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  • Studies using AF2-generated monomer models with docking methods are based on the idea that AF2 generates high-quality monomeric models that could improve the chance of native-like poses in docking.

    “studies have been carried out whereby models of single proteins generated with AF2 are used with docking methods. They are based on the idea that AF2 generates high-quality monomeric models that could improve the chance of native-like poses in docking22.”
  • In docking studies using AF2 monomers, the benchmark set includes protein structures used to train AF2 deep learning models, and use of holo monomers compromises rigor because AF2 likely provides an observed holo-structure for docking.

    “One issue with these studies, as some authors pointed out, is that the benchmark set tested includes protein structures used to train the AF2 deep learning models. Although the AF2 models were not trained on protein complex structures, the use of the holo monomers in training compromises rigor because AF2 likely provides an “observed” holo-structure for docking.”
  • Another complex, docking-centric strategy increases the mean DockQ score from 0.25 to 0.47 on CP17.

    “Another complex, docking-centric strategy increases the mean of DockQ score from 0.25 to 0.4722.”
  • The docking-centric strategy of building a complex using ColabFold AF2, splitting monomers, and using ClusPro yields an acceptable or better top-ranked model for fewer than half of the CP17 targets.

    “This strategy yields an acceptable or better top-ranked model for fewer than half of the targets.”
  • The docking-centric approach has a mean DockQ score of 0.25 on CP17.

    “a dramatic improvement from 0.25 of the docking-centric approach.”

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Authors
Ghani, U., Desta, I., Jindal, A., Khan, O., Jones, G., Hashemi, N., Kotelnikov, S., Padhorny, D., Vajda, S., & Kozakov, D.
Affiliations
  • Boston University (US)
  • Stony Brook University (US)
Corresponding author
  • Padhorny, Dzmitry
  • Kozakov, Dima
Venue
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
Publisher
openRxiv
Published
2021-09-07
OpenAlex
W3197480237
Cited by
68
References
19
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 3
Type
posted content
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation (R35 GM118078, 1645512, RM1135136, 1759277)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R21GM127952, RM1135136, R35GM118078)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protein Structure and Dynamics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computational Theory and Mathematics › Computational Drug Discovery Methods
  • Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Enzyme Structure and Function
Keywords
protein-protein docking, AlphaFold2, ClusPro, protein structure prediction

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