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A Critical Assessment of Predicted Interactions (CAPRI)

CAPRI is a blind test of the ability of protein docking algorithms to predict the mode of association of two proteins based on their three-dimensional structures. The prediction starts whenever an experimentalist offers an adequate target, and ends six to eight weeks later with the submission of predicted structures.

The Management Group of CAPRI calls upon all structural biologists who have just completed, or hope to complete soon, the X-ray or NMR structure of a protein-protein complex, to provide new targets. If both components of the complex are already in the Protein Data Bank, predictors will be given the two ID codes. Alternatively, only one component structure may be available. The other is then given as atomic coordinates carved from the complex and communicated by the authors on a confidential basis. Six to eight weeks later, a complete set of coordinates should be forwarded to the member of the Management Group in charge of evaluation, also on a confidential basis.

We hope that CAPRI will attract crystallographers and structural biologists who reckon that the predicted modes of association can be useful guides for genetic and biochemical experiments, but the prediction methods and the algorithms must first be extensively tested and their validity assessed.

The CAPRI Management Group: K. Henrick (Hinxton, UK), J. Janin (Gif-sur-Yvette, France), J. Moult (Rockville, MD), L. Ten Eyck (San Diego, CA), M. Sternberg (London, UK), S. Vajda (Boston, MA), S. Wodak (Brussels, Belgium).

For information on submitting targets, visit http://capri.ebi.ac.uk or contact J. Janin (janin@lebs.cnrs-gif.fr)

8 July 2009