ModFOLD6: an accurate web server for the global and local quality estimation of 3D protein models (original) (raw)

Estimating the Quality of 3D Protein Models Using the ModFOLD7 Server

Methods in Molecular Biology, 2020

Assessing the accuracy of 3D models has become a keystone in the protein structure prediction field. ModFOLD7 is our leading resource for Estimates of Model Accuracy (EMA), which has been upgraded by integrating a number of the pioneering pure-single-and quasi-single-model approaches. Such an integration has given our latest version the strengths to accurately score and rank predicted models, with higher consistency compared to older EMA methods. Additionally, the server provides three options for producing global score estimates, depending on the requirements of the user: (1) ModFOLD7_rank, which is optimized for ranking/selection, (2) ModFOLD7_cor, which is optimized for correlations of predicted and observed scores, and (3) ModFOLD7 global for balanced performance. ModFOLD7 has been ranked among the top few EMA methods according to independent blind testing by the CASP13 assessors.

ModFOLD8: accurate global and local quality estimates for 3D protein models

Nucleic Acids Research, 2021

Methods for estimating the quality of 3D models of proteins are vital tools for driving the acceptance and utility of predicted tertiary structures by the wider bioscience community. Here we describe the significant major updates to ModFOLD, which has maintained its position as a leading server for the prediction of global and local quality of 3D protein models, over the past decade (>20 000 unique external users). ModFOLD8 is the latest version of the server, which combines the strengths of multiple pure-single and quasi-single model methods. Improvements have been made to the web server interface and there has been successive increases in prediction accuracy, which were achieved through integration of newly developed scoring methods and advanced deep learning-based residue contact predictions. Each version of the ModFOLD server has been independently blind tested in the biennial CASP experiments, as well as being continuously evaluated via the CAMEO project. In CASP13 and CASP14, the ModFOLD7 and ModFOLD8 variants ranked among the top 10 quality estimation methods according to almost every official analysis. Prior to CASP14, Mod-FOLD8 was also applied for the evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 protein models as part of CASP Commons 2020 initiative. The ModFOLD8 server is freely available at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/bioinf/ModFOLD/.

The ModFOLD4 server for the quality assessment of 3D protein models

Nucleic Acids Research, 2013

Once you have generated a 3D model of a protein, how do you know whether it bears any resemblance to the actual structure? To determine the usefulness of 3D models of proteins, they must be assessed in terms of their quality by methods that predict their similarity to the native structure. The ModFOLD4 server is the latest version of our leading independent server for the estimation of both the global and local (per-residue) quality of 3D protein models. The server produces both machine readable and graphical output, providing users with intuitive visual reports on the quality of predicted protein tertiary structures. The ModFOLD4 server is freely available to all at: http://www.reading.ac.uk/bioinf/ModFOLD/.

MQAPsingle: A quasi single-model approach for estimation of the quality of individual protein structure models

Proteins, 2015

We present a Model Quality Assessment Program (MQAP), called MQAPsingle, for ranking and assessing the absolute global quality of single protein models. MQAPsingle is quasi single-model MQAP, a method that combines advantages of both "pure" single-model MQAPs and clustering MQAPs. This approach results in higher accuracy compared to the state-of-the-art single-model MQAPs. Notably, the prediction for a given model is the same regardless if this model is submitted to our server alone or together with other models. Availability: The MQAPsingle server can be freely accessed at http://mqapsingle.mathmed.org This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Rapid model quality assessment for protein structure predictions using the comparison of multiple models without structural alignments

Bioinformatics, 2010

The accurate prediction of the quality of 3D models is a key component of successful protein tertiary structure prediction methods. Currently, clustering or consensus based Model Quality Assessment Programs (MQAPs) are the most accurate methods for predicting 3D model quality; however they are often CPU intensive as they carry out multiple structural alignments in order to compare numerous models. In this study, we describe ModFOLDclustQ -a novel MQAP that compares 3D models of proteins without the need for CPU intensive structural alignments by utilising the Q measure for model comparisons. The ModFOLDclustQ method is benchmarked against the top established methods in terms of both accuracy and speed. In addition, the ModFOLDclustQ scores are combined with those from our older ModFOLDclust method to form a new method, ModFOLDclust2, that aims to provide increased prediction accuracy with negligible computational overhead. Results: The ModFOLDclustQ method is competitive with leading clustering based MQAPs for the prediction of global model quality, yet it is up to 150 times faster than the previous version of the Mod-FOLDclust method at comparing models of small proteins (<60 residues) and over 5 times faster at comparing models of large proteins (>800 residues). Furthermore, a significant improvement in accuracy can be gained over the previous clustering based MQAPs by combining the scores from ModFOLDclustQ and ModFOLDclust to form the new ModFOLDclust2 method, with little impact on the overall time taken for each prediction. Avaliability: The ModFOLDclustQ and ModFOLDclust2 methods are available to download from:

ReFOLD: a server for the refinement of 3D protein models guided by accurate quality estimates

Nucleic Acids Research

ReFOLD is a novel hybrid refinement server with integrated high performance global and local Accuracy Self Estimates (ASEs). The server attempts to identify and to fix likely errors in user supplied 3D models of proteins via successive rounds of refinement. The server is unique in providing output for multiple alternative refined models in a way that allows users to quickly visualize the key residue locations, which are likely to have been improved. This is important, as global refinement of a full chain model may not always be possible, whereas local regions, or individual domains, can often be much improved. Thus, users may easily compare the specific regions of the alternative refined models in which they are most interested e.g. key interaction sites or domains. Re-FOLD was used to generate hundreds of alternative refined models for the CASP12 experiment, boosting our group's performance in the main tertiary structure prediction category. Our successful refinement of initial server models combined with our built-in ASEs were instrumental to our second place ranking on Template Based Modeling (TBM) and Free Modeling (FM)/TBM targets. The ReFOLD server is freely available at: http://www.reading.ac.uk/bioinf/ ReFOLD/.

Quality assessment of protein model-structures based on structural and functional similarities

Background Experimental determination of protein 3D structures is expensive, time consuming and sometimes impossible. A gap between number of protein structures deposited in the World Wide Protein Data Bank and the number of sequenced proteins constantly broadens. Computational modeling is deemed to be one of the ways to deal with the problem. Although protein 3D structure prediction is a difficult task, many tools are available. These tools can model it from a sequence or partial structural information, e.g. contact maps. Consequently, biologists have the ability to generate automatically a putative 3D structure model of any protein. However, the main issue becomes evaluation of the model quality, which is one of the most important challenges of structural biology. Results GOBA - Gene Ontology-Based Assessment is a novel Protein Model Quality Assessment Program. It estimates the compatibility between a model-structure and its expected function. GOBA is based on the assumption that a high quality model is expected to be structurally similar to proteins functionally similar to the prediction target. Whereas DALI is used to measure structure similarity, protein functional similarity is quantified using standardized and hierarchical description of proteins provided by Gene Ontology combined with Wang's algorithm for calculating semantic similarity. Two approaches are proposed to express the quality of protein model-structures. One is a single model quality assessment method, the other is its modification, which provides a relative measure of model quality. Exhaustive evaluation is performed on data sets of model-structures submitted to the CASP8 and CASP9 contests. Conclusions The validation shows that the method is able to discriminate between good and bad model-structures. The best of tested GOBA scores achieved 0.74 and 0.8 as a mean Pearson correlation to the observed quality of models in our CASP8 and CASP9-based validation sets. GOBA also obtained the best result for two targets of CASP8, and one of CASP9, compared to the contest participants. Consequently, GOBA offers a novel single model quality assessment program that addresses the practical needs of biologists. In conjunction with other Model Quality Assessment Programs (MQAPs), it would prove useful for the evaluation of single protein models.

Quality Assessment of Protein Structure Models

Current Protein & Peptide Science, 2009

Computational protein tertiary structure prediction has made significant progress over the last decade due to the advancement of techniques and the growth of sequence and structure databases. However, it is still not very easy to predict the accuracy of a given predicted structure. Predicting the accuracy, or quality assessment of a prediction model, is crucial for a practical use of the model such as biochemical experimental design and drug design. Recently several model quality assessment programs (MQAPs) have been proposed for assessing global and local accuracy of predicted structures. We will start with reviewing the current status of protein structure prediction methods with an emphasis on the source of errors. Then existing MQAPs are classified into several categories and each is discussed. The categories include methods which evaluate the quality of template-target alignments, those which evaluate stereochemical irregularities of prediction models, and methods which integrate several features into a composite quality assessment score.

QMEANclust: estimation of protein model quality by combining a composite scoring function with structural density information

BMC Structural Biology, 2009

The selection of the most accurate protein model from a set of alternatives is a crucial step in protein structure prediction both in template-based and ab initio approaches. Scoring functions have been developed which can either return a quality estimate for a single model or derive a score from the information contained in the ensemble of models for a given sequence. Local structural features occurring more frequently in the ensemble have a greater probability of being correct. Within the context of the CASP experiment, these so called consensus methods have been shown to perform considerably better in selecting good candidate models, but tend to fail if the best models are far from the dominant structural cluster. In this paper we show that model selection can be improved if both approaches are combined by pre-filtering the models used during the calculation of the structural consensus.

IntFOLD: an integrated web resource for high performance protein structure and function prediction

Nucleic Acids Research, 2019

The IntFOLD server provides a unified resource for the automated prediction of: protein tertiary structures with built-in estimates of model accuracy (EMA), protein structural domain boundaries, natively unstructured or disordered regions in proteins, and protein–ligand interactions. The component methods have been independently evaluated via the successive blind CASP experiments and the continual CAMEO benchmarking project. The IntFOLD server has established its ranking as one of the best performing publicly available servers, based on independent official evaluation metrics. Here, we describe significant updates to the server back end, where we have focused on performance improvements in tertiary structure predictions, in terms of global 3D model quality and accuracy self-estimates (ASE), which we achieve using our newly improved ModFOLD7_rank algorithm. We also report on various upgrades to the front end including: a streamlined submission process, enhanced visualization of model...