Audience
Automated docking tool that helps scientist predict how small molecules bind to a receptor of known 3D structure
About AutoDock
AutoDock is a suite of automated docking tools. It is designed to predict how small molecules, such as substrates or drug candidates, bind to a receptor of known 3D structure. Over the years, it has been modified and improved to add new functionalities, and multiple engines have been developed. Current distributions of AutoDock consist of two generations of software: AutoDock 4 and AutoDock Vina. More recently, we developed AutoDock-GPU, an accelerated version of AutoDock4 that is hundreds of times faster than the original single-CPU docking code. AutoDock 4 actually consists of two main programs: autodock performs the docking of the ligand to a set of grids describing the target protein; autogrid pre-calculates these grids. In addition to using them for docking, the atomic affinity grids can be visualized. This can help, for example, to guide organic synthetic chemists design better binders.