Biomaterial Database

Protein structure modelling from remote sequence similarity. 1994

W R Taylor

Laboratory of Mathematical Biology, National Institute for Medical Research, London, UK.

Many methods exist for taking a sequence that exhibits similarity to another of known structure and building a molecular model. However, when the sequence similarity is very remote and fragmentary, this 'modelling-by-homology' approach is less reliable. Current methods that tackle this problem are reviewed below, taking as an example the construction of a predicted model for the retroviral protease. This earlier work, which was only partially automatic, identified many of the outstanding difficulties that have subsequently been automated in computer programs, developed both by the author and many others. Because of the rapid proliferation of methods and their variants, an exhaustive review of the literature has not been possible and the following survey concentrates on the developments of the author and colleagues to explain the basic methods.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008958	Models, Molecular	Models used experimentally or theoretically to study molecular shape, electronic properties, or interactions; includes analogous molecules, computer-generated graphics, and mechanical structures.	Molecular Models,Model, Molecular,Molecular Model
D008969	Molecular Sequence Data	Descriptions of specific amino acid, carbohydrate, or nucleotide sequences which have appeared in the published literature and/or are deposited in and maintained by databanks such as GENBANK, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), National Biomedical Research Foundation (NBRF), or other sequence repositories.	Sequence Data, Molecular,Molecular Sequencing Data,Data, Molecular Sequence,Data, Molecular Sequencing,Sequencing Data, Molecular
D011506	Proteins	Linear POLYPEPTIDES that are synthesized on RIBOSOMES and may be further modified, crosslinked, cleaved, or assembled into complex proteins with several subunits. The specific sequence of AMINO ACIDS determines the shape the polypeptide will take, during PROTEIN FOLDING, and the function of the protein.	Gene Products, Protein,Gene Proteins,Protein,Protein Gene Products,Proteins, Gene
D000465	Algorithms	A procedure consisting of a sequence of algebraic formulas and/or logical steps to calculate or determine a given task.	Algorithm
D000595	Amino Acid Sequence	The order of amino acids as they occur in a polypeptide chain. This is referred to as the primary structure of proteins. It is of fundamental importance in determining PROTEIN CONFORMATION.	Protein Structure, Primary,Amino Acid Sequences,Sequence, Amino Acid,Sequences, Amino Acid,Primary Protein Structure,Primary Protein Structures,Protein Structures, Primary,Structure, Primary Protein,Structures, Primary Protein
D001709	Biotechnology	Body of knowledge related to the use of organisms, cells or cell-derived constituents for the purpose of developing products which are technically, scientifically and clinically useful. Alteration of biologic function at the molecular level (i.e., GENETIC ENGINEERING) is a central focus; laboratory methods used include TRANSFECTION and CLONING technologies, sequence and structure analysis algorithms, computer databases, and gene and protein structure function analysis and prediction.	Biotechnologies
D015394	Molecular Structure	The location of the atoms, groups or ions relative to one another in a molecule, as well as the number, type and location of covalent bonds.	Structure, Molecular,Molecular Structures,Structures, Molecular
D016333	HIV Protease	Enzyme of the human immunodeficiency virus that is required for post-translational cleavage of gag and gag-pol precursor polyproteins into functional products needed for viral assembly. HIV protease is an aspartic protease encoded by the amino terminus of the pol gene.	HIV Proteinase,HTLV-III Protease,p16 pol gene product, HIV,p16 protease, HIV,HIV p16 protease,HTLV III Protease,Protease, HIV,Protease, HTLV-III
D016415	Sequence Alignment	The arrangement of two or more amino acid or base sequences from an organism or organisms in such a way as to align areas of the sequences sharing common properties. The degree of relatedness or homology between the sequences is predicted computationally or statistically based on weights assigned to the elements aligned between the sequences. This in turn can serve as a potential indicator of the genetic relatedness between the organisms.	Sequence Homology Determination,Determination, Sequence Homology,Alignment, Sequence,Alignments, Sequence,Determinations, Sequence Homology,Sequence Alignments,Sequence Homology Determinations
D017433	Protein Structure, Secondary	The level of protein structure in which regular hydrogen-bond interactions within contiguous stretches of polypeptide chain give rise to ALPHA-HELICES; BETA-STRANDS (which align to form BETA-SHEETS), or other types of coils. This is the first folding level of protein conformation.	Secondary Protein Structure,Protein Structures, Secondary,Secondary Protein Structures,Structure, Secondary Protein,Structures, Secondary Protein