Wednesday, 15 January 2014

Protein Structural Validation: The Complementarity Plot - A Novel Graphical tool, Combined use of shape and electrostatic complementarity of interior residues.




Keywords / Key Attributes : Detection of packing anomalies and wrong rotamer assignments in obsoleted structures, Signaling unbalanced partial charges in designed protein interiors, Detection of low intensity diffused errors in main-chain geometrical parameters, Applications in Homology modeling.

Structure validation is a crucial component not only in protein crystallography but also in model quality estimation in homology modeling, protein design and de-novo structure prediction. Recent studies have emphasized on the need to improve existing validation tools with the rapid growth of protein crystal structures deposited in the protein data bank. Two key attributes of a correctly determined atomic model are optimal packing between side-chains and absence of destabilizing unbalanced electric fields within the interior of a protein molecule. The complementarity plot (CP) combines them in a single unified measure and is a sensitive indicator of the harmony or disharmony of interior residues of a globular protein with regard to the short and long range forces sustaining the native fold. The plot has previously been demonstrated to be effective in detecting local regions of suboptimal packing or electrostatics [1]. CP has now been compiled into a  user friendly validation  package and made available as a standalone suite of programs in the public domain (http://www.saha.ac.in/biop/www/sarama.html) [2].  A set of  scores have now been included in the methodology which gives an estimate of the probabilities associated with the distribution of points in the plot and the propensities of specific residues to different degrees solvent exposure. These scores have been used to detect a wide variety of local and global structural errors and compared with other standard validation techniques. CP was found to be effective in discriminating between obsolete structures and their corresponding upgraded counterparts, detection of wrong rotamer assignment and in identifying packing anomalies. CP was especially effective in the detection of low-intensity errors diffused over the entire polypeptide chain. A special feature of this validation tool is to signal unbalanced partial charges within protein interiors. Finally, the application of CP in protein homology modeling and design has been surveyed. The current study clearly indicates that over and above the commonly used validation techniques, packing and electrostatics should be included separately in any validation package and thus, CP should be an useful addition in the already existing repertoire of structure validation tools. 

References: 

1.        Self-Complementarity within Proteins: Bridging the Gap between Binding and Folding.
Sankar Basu, Dhananjay Bhattacharyya, and Rahul Banerjee*
Biophysical Journal, 2012, 102 (11) : 2605-2614.

Sankar Basu*, Dhananjay Bhattacharyya, and Rahul Banerjee*
Journal of Bioinformatics and Intelligent Control, 2013, 2 (4) : 321-323







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