PreprintCited by 197Protein Structure and DynamicsEnzyme Structure and FunctionMachine Learning in Bioinformatics

Impact of protein conformational diversity on AlphaFold predictions

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Saldaño, Tadeo, Escobedo, Nahuel, Marchetti, Julia, Zea, Diego Javier, Mac Donagh, Juan, Velez Rueda, Ana Julia, Gonik, Eduardo, Melani, Agustina García +8 more·2021·Bioinformatics

Preprint — published as 10.1093/bioinformatics/btac202 · Paper page

Abstract

Abstract After the outstanding breakthrough of AlphaFold in predicting protein 3D models, new questions appeared and remain unanswered. The ensemble nature of proteins, for example, challenges the structural prediction methods because the models should represent a set of conformers instead of single structures. The evolutionary and structural features captured by effective deep learning techniques may unveil the information to generate several diverse conformations from a single sequence. Here we address the performance of AlphaFold2 predictions under this ensemble paradigm. Using a curated collection of apo-holo conformations, we found that AlphaFold2 predicts the holo form of a protein in 70% of the cases, being unable to reproduce the observed conformational diversity with an equivalent error than in the estimation of a single conformation. More importantly, we found that AlphaFold2’s performance worsens with the increasing conformational diversity of the studied protein. This impairment is related to the heterogeneity in the degree of conformational diversity found between different members of the homologous family of the protein under study. Finally, we found that main-chain flexibility associated with apo-holo pairs of conformers negatively correlates with the predicted local model quality score plDDT, indicating that plDDT values in a single 3D model could be used to infer local conformational changes linked to ligand binding transitions.

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  • AF2, despite its accuracy, likely does not learn the energy landscapes underpinning protein folding and function.

    “Several preprints have provided evidence that AF2, despite its accuracy, likely does not learn the energy landscapes underpinning protein folding and function (Saldaño et al., 2021; Pak et al., 2021; Akdel et al., 2021).”

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Authors
Saldaño, T., Escobedo, N., Marchetti, J., Zea, D. J., Mac Donagh, J., Velez Rueda, A. J., Gonik, E., Melani, A. G., Novomisky Nechcoff, J., Salas, M. N., Peters, T., Demitroff, N., Fernandez Alberti, S., Palopoli, N., Fornasari, M. S., & Parisi, G.
Affiliations
  • National University of Quilmes (AR)
  • Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (AR)
  • Fundación Instituto Leloir (AR)
Corresponding author
Parisi, Gustavo
Venue
Bioinformatics
Publisher
openRxiv
Published
2021-10-28
Volume
38
Issue
10
Pages
2742-2748
ISSN
1367-4803 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4225552973
Cited by
196
References
55
Citations by year
2026: 45 · 2025: 54 · 2024: 52 · 2023: 29 · 2022: 16
FWCI
12.32
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Bioinformatics (publishedVersion)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Greater South Information System
Funders
  • European Commission (HORIZON2020, 778247)
  • Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (PIP-2015-2017 11220150100853CO, PICT2018)
  • Universidad Nacional de Quilmes (PUNQ 1309/19, 778247)
  • Agencia Nacional de Promoción de la Investigación, el Desarrollo Tecnológico y la Innovación (PICT-2018 3457)
  • Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (778247, CONICET)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protein Structure and Dynamics
  • Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Enzyme Structure and Function
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Machine Learning in Bioinformatics
Keywords
protein conformational diversity, AlphaFold2, ColabFold, protein ensembles, ligand binding, pLDDT, model quality assessment, homologous protein families, protein structure prediction
MeSH terms
Protein Binding, Protein Conformation, Proteins

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