Assessment of RAPTOR's linear programming approach in CAFASP3.

We have developed a new algorithm based on the mathematical theory of linear programming (LP) and implemented it in our program RAPTOR. Our new approach provides an elegant formulation of the protein-threading problem, overcomes the intractability problem of protein threading, in practice, and allows us to use existing powerful linear programming software to obtain optimal protein threading solutions. CASP5 and CAFASP3 gave us the first chance to test RAPTOR in an unbiased way. RAPTOR was ranked as the top individual (automatic) server for fold recognition by the CAFASP3 organizers. In this short article, we describe RAPTOR's LP formulation, assess RAPTOR's performance in CAFASP3/CASP5, explain why it has superceded other existing automatic individual methods, and point out its strengths, limitations, extensions, and prospects for improvement.