In silico prediction of protein flexibility with local structure approach.

Flexibility is an intrinsic essential feature of protein structures, directly linked to their functions. To this day, most of the prediction methods use the crystallographic data (namely B-factors) as the only indicator of protein's inner flexibility and predicts them as rigid or flexible. PredyFlexy stands differently from other approaches as it relies on the definition of protein flexibility (i) not only taken from crystallographic data, but also (ii) from Root Mean Square Fluctuation (RMSFs) observed in Molecular Dynamics simulations. It also uses a specific representation of protein structures, named Long Structural Prototypes (LSPs). From Position-Specific Scoring Matrix, the 120 LSPs are predicted with a good accuracy and directly used to predict (i) the protein flexibility in three categories (flexible, intermediate and rigid), (ii) the normalized B-factors, (iii) the normalized RMSFs, and (iv) a confidence index. Prediction accuracy among these three classes is equivalent to the best two class prediction methods, while the normalized B-factors and normalized RMSFs have a good correlation with experimental and in silico values. Thus, PredyFlexy is a unique approach, which is of major utility for the scientific community. It support parallelization features and can be run on a local cluster using multiple cores.

Reliability of muscle strength measures obtained with a hand-held dynamometer in an elderly population.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to assess the reliability of a hand-held dynamometer for isometric strength measurements among nursing home residents. METHODS: The isometric muscle strength of nursing home residents was assessed for eight different muscle groups, using a hand-held dynamometer, the MicroFET2 device. Strength measurements were performed at baseline and after 4 days by the same operator and after 8 days by a second operator. Intraclass coefficients (ICC) were computed to assess the relative reliability, whereas the minimal detectable change (MDC%) was calculated to assess the absolute reliability of the test-retest of the MicroFET2 used by one single operator or by two different ones. RESULTS: Thirty nursing home residents (75·0 ± 11·2 years, 50% of women) were enrolled in this study. ICC of the test-retest with one single operator ranged from 0·60 (0·37-0·83) for the ankle extensors to 0·85 (0·74-0·95) for the elbow flexors. When considering the test-retest with two different operators, the ICC values ranged from 0·62 (0·41-0·84) for the ankle extensors to 0·87 (0·79-0·96) for the elbow extensors. For the absolute reliability, MDC% varies from 27·64 (elbow flexors) to 81·97 (ankle extensors) when performed in intra-observer. In interobserver condition, MDC%, respectively, varies from 24·38 (elbow extensors) 67·59 (ankle extensors). CONCLUSION: Using standardized protocol and standardized instructions to patients, a high relative and moderate absolute reliability was observed for all but ankle muscle groups, making this hand-held dynamometer a potential tool for research in the elderly population.

Protein flexibility in the light of structural alphabets.

Protein structures are valuable tools to understand protein function. Nonetheless, proteins are often considered as rigid macromolecules while their structures exhibit specific flexibility, which is essential to complete their functions. Analyses of protein structures and dynamics are often performed with a simplified three-state description, i.e., the classical secondary structures. More precise and complete description of protein backbone conformation can be obtained using libraries of small protein fragments that are able to approximate every part of protein structures. These libraries, called structural alphabets (SAs), have been widely used in structure analysis field, from definition of ligand binding sites to superimposition of protein structures. SAs are also well suited to analyze the dynamics of protein structures. Here, we review innovative approaches that investigate protein flexibility based on SAs description. Coupled to various sources of experimental data (e.g., B-factor) and computational methodology (e.g., Molecular Dynamic simulation), SAs turn out to be powerful tools to analyze protein dynamics, e.g., to examine allosteric mechanisms in large set of structures in complexes, to identify order/disorder transition. SAs were also shown to be quite efficient to predict protein flexibility from amino-acid sequence. Finally, in this review, we exemplify the interest of SAs for studying flexibility with different cases of proteins implicated in pathologies and diseases.

PolyprOnline: polyproline helix II and secondary structure assignment database.

The polyproline helix type II (PPII) is a regular protein secondary structure with remarkable features. Many studies have highlighted different crucial biological roles supported by this local conformation, e.g. in the interactions between biological macromolecules. Although PPII is less frequently present than regular secondary structures such as canonical alpha helices and beta strands, it corresponds to 3-10% of residues. Up to now, PPII is not assigned by most popular assignment tools, and therefore, remains insufficiently studied. PolyprOnline database is, therefore, dedicated to PPII structure assignment and analysis to facilitate the study of PPII structure and functional roles. This database is freely accessible from www.dsimb.inserm.fr/dsimb_tools/polyproline.

mulPBA: an efficient multiple protein structure alignment method based on a structural alphabet.

The increasing number of available protein structures requires efficient tools for multiple structure comparison. Indeed, multiple structural alignments are essential for the analysis of function, evolution and architecture of protein structures. For this purpose, we proposed a new web server called multiple Protein Block Alignment (mulPBA). This server implements a method based on a structural alphabet to describe the backbone conformation of a protein chain in terms of dihedral angles. This 'sequence-like' representation enables the use of powerful sequence alignment methods for primary structure comparison, followed by an iterative refinement of the structural superposition. This approach yields alignments superior to most of the rigid-body alignment methods and highly comparable with the flexible structure comparison approaches. We implement this method in a web server designed to do multiple structure superimpositions from a set of structures given by the user. Outputs are given as both sequence alignment and superposed 3D structures visualized directly by static images generated by PyMol or through a Jmol applet allowing dynamic interaction. Multiple global quality measures are given. Relatedness between structures is indicated by a distance dendogram. Superimposed structures in PDB format can be also downloaded, and the results are quickly obtained. mulPBA server can be accessed at www.dsimb.inserm.fr/dsimb_tools/mulpba/ .

VLDP web server: a powerful geometric tool for analysing protein structures in their environment.

Protein structures are an ensemble of atoms determined experimentally mostly by X-ray crystallography or Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. Studying 3D protein structures is a key point for better understanding protein function at a molecular level. We propose a set of accurate tools, for analysing protein structures, based on the reliable method of Voronoi-Laguerre tessellations. The Voronoi Laguerre Delaunay Protein web server (VLDPws) computes the Laguerre tessellation on a whole given system first embedded in solvent. Through this fine description, VLDPws gives the following data: (i) Amino acid volumes evaluated with high precision, as confirmed by good correlations with experimental data. (ii) A novel definition of inter-residue contacts within the given protein. (iii) A measure of the residue exposure to solvent that significantly improves the standard notion of accessibility in some cases. At present, no equivalent web server is available. VLDPws provides output in two complementary forms: direct visualization of the Laguerre tessellation, mostly its polygonal molecular surfaces; files of volumes; and areas, contacts and similar data for each residue and each atom. These files are available for download for further analysis. VLDPws can be accessed at http://www.dsimb.inserm.fr/dsimb_tools/vldp.

Phylotyping and functional analysis of two ancient human microbiomes.

BACKGROUND: The Human Microbiome Project (HMP) is one of the U.S. National Institutes of Health Roadmap for Medical Research. Primary interests of the HMP include the distinctiveness of different gut microbiomes, the factors influencing microbiome diversity, and the functional redundancies of the members of human microbiotas. In this present work, we contribute to these interests by characterizing two extinct human microbiotas. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We examine two paleofecal samples originating from cave deposits in Durango Mexico and dating to approximately 1300 years ago. Contamination control is a serious issue in ancient DNA research; we use a novel approach to control contamination. After we determined that each sample originated from a different human, we generated 45 thousand shotgun DNA sequencing reads. The phylotyping and functional analysis of these reads reveals a signature consistent with the modern gut ecology. Interestingly, inter-individual variability for phenotypes but not functional pathways was observed. The two ancient samples have more similar functional profiles to each other than to a recently published profile for modern humans. This similarity could not be explained by a chance sampling of the databases. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We conduct a phylotyping and functional analysis of ancient human microbiomes, while providing novel methods to control for DNA contamination and novel hypotheses about past microbiome biogeography. We postulate that natural selection has more of an influence on microbiome functional profiles than it does on the species represented in the microbial ecology. We propose that human microbiomes were more geographically structured during pre-Columbian times than today.