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Journal of Biological Physics logoLink to Journal of Biological Physics
. 2001 Jun;27(2-3):205–215. doi: 10.1023/A:1013152026788

Assessment of the Quality of Energy Functions for Protein Folding by Using a Criterion Derived With the Help of the Noisy Go Model

M Vendruscolo 1
PMCID: PMC3456590  PMID: 23345744

Abstract

We propose a simple criterion based on the Z-scoreto assess the quality of energy functions for protein folding: one should obtain Z>–10 for the equilibrium ensembleat about native conditions. We derive this criterionby studying a Go model with random errors added to the native interactions. The dependence of the Z-score on the thermodynamic parameters,including the noise, can be precisely obtained in this case,as the ground state of the model is known exactly.We apply this criterion to rapidly rule out two otherwise promisingpairwise energy approximations.The advantage of adopting the present criterionis that it is not necessary to know the ground state of an energy function to assess its quality. It is sufficient to compute the Z-scorefrom a single equilibrium simulation at around the folding temperature.

Keywords: Effective energy functions, Go model, Protein folding, Z-score

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