Viral escape mutations do not account for non-protection from SIVmac239 challenge in RhCMV/SIV vaccinated rhesus macaques.

Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) vaccines based upon 68-1 Rhesus Cytomegalovirus (RhCMV) vectors show remarkable protection against pathogenic SIVmac239 challenge. Across multiple independent rhesus macaque (RM) challenge studies, nearly 60% of vaccinated RM show early, complete arrest of SIVmac239 replication after effective challenge, whereas the remainder show progressive infection similar to controls. Here, we performed viral sequencing to determine whether the failure to control viral replication in non-protected RMs is associated with the acquisition of viral escape mutations.

BFF and cellhashR: analysis tools for accurate demultiplexing of cell hashing data.

Motivation: Single-cell sequencing methods provide previously impossible resolution into the transcriptome of individual cells. Cell hashing reduces single-cell sequencing costs by increasing capacity on droplet-based platforms. Cell hashing methods rely on demultiplexing algorithms to accurately classify droplets; however, assumptions underlying these algorithms limit accuracy of demultiplexing, ultimately impacting the quality of single-cell sequencing analyses.

How to choose templates for modeling of protein complexes: Insights from benchmarking template-based docking.

Comparative docking is based on experimentally determined structures of protein-protein complexes (templates), following the paradigm that proteins with similar sequences and/or structures form similar complexes. Modeling utilizing structure similarity of target monomers to template complexes significantly expands structural coverage of the interactome. Template-based docking by structure alignment can be performed for the entire structures or by aligning targets to the bound interfaces of the experimentally determined complexes.

A vibrational entropy term for DNA docking with autodock.

DNA interacts with small molecules, from water to endogenous reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, environmental mutagens and carcinogens, and pharmaceutical anticancer molecules. Understanding and predicting the physical interactions of small molecules with DNA via docking is key not only for the comprehension of molecular-level events that lead to carcinogenesis and other diseases, but also for the rational design of drugs that target DNA. We recently validated AutoDock, a popular docking method that includes a physics-based scoring function and a Lamarckian Genetic Algorithm, for the prediction of small molecule geometries upon physical binding to DNA.