Interface refinement of low- to medium-resolution Cryo-EM complexes using HADDOCK2.4

Tim Neijenhuis, Siri C. van Keulen, Alexandre M.J.J. Bonvin*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

A wide range of cellular processes requires the formation of multimeric protein complexes. The rise of cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has enabled the structural characterization of these protein assemblies. The density maps produced can, however, still suffer from limited resolution, impeding the process of resolving structures at atomic resolution. In order to solve this issue, monomers can be fitted into low- to medium-resolution maps. Unfortunately, the models produced frequently contain atomic clashes at the protein-protein interfaces (PPIs), as intermolecular interactions are typically not considered during monomer fitting. Here, we present a refinement approach based on HADDOCK2.4 to remove intermolecular clashes and optimize PPIs. A dataset of 14 cryo-EM complexes was used to test eight protocols. The best-performing protocol, consisting of a semi-flexible simulated annealing refinement with centroid restraints on the monomers, was able to decrease intermolecular atomic clashes by 98% without significantly deteriorating the quality of the cryo-EM density fit.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)476-484.e3
Number of pages13
JournalStructure
Volume30
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 7 Apr 2022

Keywords

  • atomic clashes
  • electron density map
  • HADDOCK
  • interface quality
  • protein-protein interfaces
  • refinement

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