Protein folding in 3D lattice HP model using a combining cuckoo search with the Hill-Climbing algorithms

A protein is a linear chain containing a set of amino acids, which folds on itself to create a specific native structure, called the minimum energy conformation. It is the native structure that determines the functionality of each protein. The Protein Folding Problem (PFP) remains one of the most strenuous computational and chemical biology. The principal challenge of PFP is to predict the optimal conformation of a given protein by considering only its amino acid sequence. Since the conformational space contains a colossal number of possibilities, even when considering short sequences, different simplified models have been developed and applied to make the PFP less complex. Experimental methods can be used to predict the native structure of small and specific proteins. Given the limitations of experimental methods, in the last few years many computational approaches have been proposed to solve the PFP. Based on the folding process, the PFP was formulated as an optimization problem. They are based on simplified lattice models such as the hydrophobic-polar model. In this paper, we present a new Hybrid Cuckoo Search Algorithm (HCSA) to solve the 3D-HP protein folding optimization problem. Our proposed algorithm consists of combining the Cuckoo Search Algorithm (CSA) with the Hill Climbing (HC) algorithm. Simulation results on different benchmark sequences are presented and compared to the state-of-the-art algorithms. (c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.