Biology Department Seminar

CAPRI (Critical Assessment of PRedicted Interactions,
http://capri.ebi.ac.uk) is a community-wide experiment designed to assess docking methods in blind predictions of the 3D structure of protein-protein complexes based on that of the components. CAPRI targets are complexes for which a X-ray structure is made available by its authors prior to publication while the "unbound" structure of the components is already in the PDB. In a prediction round that lasts 2-4 weeks, predictor groups are given the PDB coordinates of components of a target complex and return docking models of its structure that are assessed by comparison to the experimental structure. 26 target complexes have been submitted for prediction over six years, and predictors produced good quality models of two-thirds of them. The experiment has promoted developments in docking algorithms, score functions and methods to handle conformation changes and biochemical information. We acknowledge the cooperation of crystallographers who provided these targets and very much hope that their generosity will allow the experiment to continue.