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Using multiple templates to improve quality of homology models in automated homology modeling

Center for Biomembrane Research, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden

(RECEIVED November 8, 2007; FINAL REVISION March 10, 2008; ACCEPTED March 13, 2008)

When researchers build high-quality models of protein structure from sequence homology, it is today common to use several alternative target-template alignments. Several methods can, at least in theory, utilize information from multiple templates, and many examples of improved model quality have been reported. However, to our knowledge, thus far no study has shown that automatic inclusion of multiple alignments is guaranteed to improve models without artifacts. Here, we have carried out a systematic investigation of the potential of multiple templates to improving homology model quality. We have used test sets consisting of targets from both recent CASP experiments and a larger reference set. In addition to Modeller and Nest, a new method (Pfrag) for multiple template-based modeling is used, based on the segment-matching algorithm from Levitt's SegMod program. Our results show that all programs can produce multi-template models better than any of the single-template models, but a large part of the improvement is simply due to extension of the models. Most of the remaining improved cases were produced by Modeller. The most important factor is the existence of high-quality single-sequence input alignments. Because of the existence of models that are worse than any of the top single-template models, the average model quality does not improve significantly. However, by ranking models with a model quality assessment program such as ProQ, the average quality is improved by 5% in the CASP7 test set.

Keywords: protein structure/folding; structure; protein structure prediction; homology modeling

Reprint requests to: Arne Elofsson, Center for Biomembrane Research, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden; e-mail: arne{at}sbc.su.se; fax: 46-8-153679.

Article published online ahead of print. Article and publication date are at http://www.proteinscience.org/cgi/doi/10.1110/ps.073344908.

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