A critical analysis of the combined usage of protein localization prediction methods: Increasing the number of independent data sets can reduce the accuracy of predicted mitochondrial localization

Here we show that the greatest sensitivity and specificity are obtained by using a combination of seven carefully selected classifiers. We also show that increasing the number of independent prediction methods can paradoxically decrease the accuracy of predicting mitochondrial localization. This approach will help to accelerate the identification of new mitochondrial disease genes by providing a principled way for the selection for combination of appropriate prediction methods of mitochondrial localization of proteins.