Hello,
I am studying the Docking problem:
Given two rigid molecules (the ligand and the receptor), each of them modeled by a set of Van der Waals
spheres, predict the structure and binding free energy of a ligand-receptor
complex.
We have developped an algorithm to predict some possible structures of a ligand-receptor
complex, and now we need to filter out the best one(s).
I would appreciate your advice on the two following subjects:
1) What are the classical examples of ligand-receptor complex which are used to test docking algorithms ?
You may either tell me the names of the molecules (I have ftp access to the
Protein Data Bank (PDB)) or send me some files of 3D structures (at least x,y,z
coordinates for each atom).
If you want some results on some specific molecules you are working on, I will also
be pleased to try my algorithm on these.
2) Let's say that I have a set of predicted structures for a ligand-receptor
complex. What do you think would be the best criterion to keep only the best ones ?
- In Theory ?
- On a practical basis:
For example, do you have a numerical formula to compute the free energy ?
As you will notice, I don't know as much as you about chemistry, because my field
is Computational Geometry and I work on algorithms for spheres. I am very
interested in applications in chemistry, and I would like some simple answers,
i.e. with not too much chemical details. Don't worry, I may ask for the details later !
Thank you for your answers. I will post a summary.
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Jacqueline Duquesne E-mail: duquesne at sophia.inria.fr
Project PRISME Tel: (33) 93 65 77 49
INRIA Sophia Antipolis Fax: (33) 93 65 76 43
2004, route des Lucioles B.P. 93
06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex France
