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StarPep Toolbox: an open-source software to assist chemical space analysis of bioactive peptides and their functions using complex networks

2023 , Aguilera-Mendoza, Longendri , Ayala-Ruano, Sebastián , Martínez Ríos, Félix Orlando , Chávez, Edgar , García-Jacas, César R. , Brizuela, Carlos A. , Marrero-Ponce, Yovani

Motivation: Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are promising molecules to treat infectious diseases caused by multi-drug resistance pathogens, some types of cancer, and other conditions. Computer-aided strategies are efficient tools for the high-throughput screening of AMPs. Copyright © 2024 Oxford University Press

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Handcrafted versus non-handcrafted (self-supervised) features for the classification of antimicrobial peptides: complementary or redundant?

2022 , García-Jacas, César R. , García-González, Luis A. , Martínez Ríos, Félix Orlando , Tapia-Contreras, Issac P. , Brizuela, Carlos A.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have received a great deal of attention given their potential to become a plausible option to fight multidrug resistant bacteria as well as other pathogens. Quantitative sequence-activity models (QSAMs) have been helpful to discover new AMPs because they allow to explore a large universe of peptide sequences and help reduce the number of wet lab experiments. A main aspect in the building of QSAMs based on shallow learning is to determine an optimal set of protein descriptors (features) required to discriminate between sequences with different antimicrobial activities. These features are generally handcrafted from peptide sequence datasets that are labeled with specific antimicrobial activities. However, recent developments have shown that unsupervised approaches can be used to determine features that outperform human-engineered (handcrafted) features. Thus, knowing which of these two approaches contribute to a better classification of AMPs, it is a fundamental question in order to design more accurate models. Here, we present a systematic and rigorous study to compare both types of features. Experimental outcomes show that non-handcrafted features lead to achieve better performances than handcrafted features. However, the experiments also prove that an improvement in performance is achieved when both types of features are merged. A relevance analysis reveals that nonhandcrafted features have higher information content than handcrafted features, while an interaction-based importance analysis reveals that handcrafted features are more important. These findings suggest that there is complementarity between both types of features. Comparisons regarding state-of-the-art deep models show that shallow models yield better performances both when fed with non-handcrafted features alone and when fed with non-handcrafted and handcrafted features together.

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μ𝜃-EGF: A New Multi-Thread and Nature-Inspired Algorithm for the Packing Problem

2020 , Martínez Ríos, Félix Orlando , Marmolejo Saucedo, José Antonio , García-Jacas, César R. , Murillo-Suarez, Alfonso

In this paper, the authors present a new algorithm efficient solution to the packing problem in two dimensions. The authors propose a new heuristic using the value of the electromagnetic field to determine the best position to place a circular object in a configuration of other circular objects previously packed. Also, this algorithm simulates two processes to compact objects already placed, inspired by gravitational forces, to minimize the empty space in the container and maximizing the number of objects in the container. To determine the efficacy of this algorithm, the authors carried out experiments with twenty-four instances. Parallel computing can contribute to making decision processes such as optimization and prediction more agile and faster. Real-time decision making involves the use of solution methodologies and algorithms. For this reason the present manuscript shows an alternative for the solution of a classic industry problem that must be solved quickly. Packaging optimization can help reduce waste of container material. The material used to transport the products can reduce its environmental impact due to an efficient packaging process. Light-weighting can also be accomplished by reducing the amount of packaging material used. © Springer Nature

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Enhancing Acute Oral Toxicity Predictions by using Consensus Modeling and Algebraic Form-Based 0D-to-2D Molecular Encodes

2019 , García-Jacas, César R. , Marrero-Ponce, Yovani , Cortés-Guzmán, Fernando , Suárez-Lezcano, José , Martínez Ríos, Félix Orlando , García-González, Luis A. , Pupo-Meriño, Mario , Martínez-Mayorga, Karina

Quantitative structure–activity relationships (QSAR) are introduced to predict acute oral toxicity (AOT), by using the QuBiLS-MAS (acronym for quadratic, bilinear and N-Linear maps based on graph-theoretic electronic-density matrices and atomic weightings) framework for the molecular encoding. Three training sets were employed to build the models: EPA training set (5931 compounds), EPA-full training set (7413 compounds), and Zhu training set (10 152 compounds). Additionally, the EPA test set (1482 compounds) was used for the validation of the QSAR models built on the EPA training set, while the ProTox (425 compounds) and T3DB (284 compounds) external sets were employed for the assessment of all the models. The k-nearest neighbor, multilayer perceptron, random forest, and support vector machine procedures were employed to build several base (individual) models. The base models with REPA–training ≥ 0.75 (R = correlation coefficient) and MAEEPA–training ≤ 0.5 (MAE = mean absolute error) were retained to build consensus models. As a result, two consensus models based on the minimum operator and denoted as M19 and M22, as well as a consensus model based on the weighted average operator and denoted as M24, were selected as the best ones for each training set considered. According to the applicability domain (AD) analysis performed, model M19 (built on the EPA training set) has MAEtest–AD = 0.4044, MAEProTox–AD = 0.4067 and MAET3DB–AD = 0.2586 on the EPA test set, ProTox external set, and T3DB external set, respectively; whereas model M22 (built on the EPA-full set) and model M24 (built on the Zhu set) present MAEProTox–AD = 0.3992 and MAET3DB–AD = 0.2286, and MAEProTox–AD = 0.3773 and MAET3DB–AD = 0.2471 on the two external sets accounted for, respectively. These outcomes were compared and statistically validated with respect to 14 QSAR methods (e.g., admetSAR, ProTox-II) from the literature. As a result, model M22 presents the best overall performance. In addition, a retrospective study on 261 withdrawn drugs due to their toxic/side effects was performed, to assess the usefulness of prospectively using the QSAR models proposed in the labeling of chemicals. A comparison with regard to the methods from the literature was also made. As a result, model M22 has the best ability of labeling a compound as toxic according to the globally harmonized system of classification and labeling of chemicals. Therefore, it can be concluded that the models proposed, especially model M22, constitute prominent tools for studying AOT, at providing the best results among all the methods examined. A freely available software was also developed to be used in virtual screening tasks (http://tomocomd.com/apps/ptoxra).