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International audience; Molecular docking enables large-scale prediction of whether and how small molecules bind to a macromolecular target. Machine-learning scoring functions are particularly well suited to predict the strength of this interaction. Here we describe how to build RF-Score, a scoring function utilizing the machine-learning technique known as Random Forest (RF). We also point out how to use different data, features, and regression models using either R or Python programming languages.

Motivation Fingerprints (FPs) are the most common small molecule representation in cheminformatics. There are a wide variety of FPs, and the Extended Connectivity Fingerprint (ECFP) is one of the best-suited for general applications. Despite the overall FP abundance, only a few FPs represent the 3D structure of the molecule, and hardly any encode protein–ligand interactions. Results Here, we present a Protein–Ligand Extended Connectivity (PLEC) FP that implicitly encodes protein–ligand interactions by pairing the ECFP environments from the ligand and the protein. PLEC FPs were used to construct different machine learning models tailored for predicting protein–ligand affinities (pKi∕d). Even the simplest linear model built on the PLEC FP achieved Rp = 0.817 on the Protein Databank (PDB) bind v2016 ‘core set’, demonstrating its descriptive power. Availability and implementation The PLEC FP has been implemented in the Open Drug Discovery Toolkit (https://github.com/oddt/oddt). Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Summary: MiRNAs are short, non-coding molecules that negatively regulate gene expression and thereby play several important roles in living organisms. Dozens of computational methods for miRNA-related research have been developed, which greatly differ in various aspects. The substantial availability of difficult-to-compare approaches makes it challenging for the user to select a proper tool and prompts the need for a solution that will collect and categorize all the methods. Here, we present tools4miRs, the first platform that gathers currently more than 160 methods for broadly defined miRNA analysis. The collected tools are classified into several general and more detailed categories in which the users can additionally filter the available methods according to their specific research needs, capabilities and preferences. Tools4miRs is also a web-based target prediction meta-server that incorporates user-designated target prediction methods into the analysis of user-provided data. Availability and Implementation : Tools4miRs is implemented in Python using Django and is freely available at tools4mirs.org. Contact : piotr@ibb.waw.pl Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Classical scoring functions have reached a plateau in their performance in virtual screening and binding affinity prediction. Recently, machine-learning scoring functions trained on protein-ligand complexes have shown great promise in small tailored studies. They have also raised controversy, specifically concerning model overfitting and applicability to novel targets. Here we provide a new ready-to-use scoring function (RF-Score-VS) trained on 15 426 active and 893 897 inactive molecules docked to a set of 102 targets. We use the full DUD-E data sets along with three docking tools, five classical and three machine-learning scoring functions for model building and performance assessment. Our results show RF-Score-VS can substantially improve virtual screening performance: RF-Score-VS top 1% provides 55.6% hit rate, whereas that of Vina only 16.2% (for smaller percent the difference is even more encouraging: RF-Score-VS top 0.1% achieves 88.6% hit rate for 27.5% using Vina). In addition, RF-Score-VS provides much better prediction of measured binding affinity than Vina (Pearson correlation of 0.56 and −0.18, respectively). Lastly, we test RF-Score-VS on an independent test set from the DEKOIS benchmark and observed comparable results. We provide full data sets to facilitate further research in this area (http://github.com/oddt/rfscorevs) as well as ready-to-use RF-Score-VS (http://github.com/oddt/rfscorevs_binary).

DiSCuS, a "Database System for Compound Selection", has been developed. The primary goal of DiSCuS is to aid researchers in the steps subsequent to generating high-throughput virtual screening (HTVS) results, such as selection of compounds for further study, purchase, or synthesis. To do so, DiSCuS provides (1) a storage facility for ligand-receptor complexes (generated with external programs), (2) a number of tools for validating these complexes, such as scoring functions, potential energy contributions, and med-chem features with ligand similarity estimates, and (3) powerful searching and filtering options with logical operators. DiSCuS supports multiple receptor targets for a single ligand, so it can be used either to evaluate different variants of an active site or for selectivity studies. DiSCuS documentation, installation instructions, and source code can be found at http://discus.ibb.waw.pl .

Background There has been huge progress in the open cheminformatics field in both methods and software development. Unfortunately, there has been little effort to unite those methods and software into one package. We here describe the Open Drug Discovery Toolkit (ODDT), which aims to fulfill the need for comprehensive and open source drug discovery software. Results The Open Drug Discovery Toolkit was developed as a free and open source tool for both computer aided drug discovery (CADD) developers and researchers. ODDT reimplements many state-of-the-art methods, such as machine learning scoring functions (RF-Score and NNScore) and wraps other external software to ease the process of developing CADD pipelines. ODDT is an out-of-the-box solution designed to be easily customizable and extensible. Therefore, users are strongly encouraged to extend it and develop new methods. We here present three use cases for ODDT in common tasks in computer-aided drug discovery. Conclusion Open Drug Discovery Toolkit is released on a permissive 3-clause BSD license for both academic and industrial use. ODDT’s source code, additional examples and documentation are available on GitHub (https://github.com/oddt/oddt). Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13321-015-0078-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.