Question

Which of the following is untrue about Ab initio prediction?

(a) The limited knowledge of protein folding forms the basis of ab initio prediction

(b) The ab initio prediction method attempts to produce all-atom protein models based on sequence information alone without the aid of known protein structures

(c) The ab initio prediction method attempts to produce all-atom protein models based on sequence information alone with some aid of known protein structures

(d) The perceived advantage of this method is that predictions are not restricted by known folds and that novel protein folds can be identified

I got this question in an online interview.

Query is from Ab Initio Protein Structural Prediction & Homology Modeling topic in portion Protein Tertiary Structure Prediction of Bioinformatics

Answer 1

The correct choice is (c) The ab initio prediction method attempts to produce all-atom protein models based on sequence information alone with some aid of known protein structures

Easy explanation: Alongside the advantages, because the physicochemical laws governing protein folding are not yet well understood, the energy functions used in the ab initio prediction are, at present, rather inaccurate. The folding problem remains one of the greatest challenges in bioinformatics today.