RESUMEN
Transmembrane proteins affect vital cellular functions and pathogenesis, and are a focus of drug design. It is difficult to obtain diffraction quality crystals to study transmembrane protein structure. Computational tools for transmembrane protein topology prediction fill in the gap between the abundance of transmembrane proteins and the scarcity of known membrane protein structures. Their prediction accuracy is still inadequate: TMHMM, the current state-of-the-art method, has less than 52% accuracy in topology prediction on one set of transmembrane proteins of known topology. Based on the observation that there are functional domains that occur preferentially internal or external to the membrane, we have extended the model of TMHMM to incorporate functional domains, using a probabilistic approach originally developed for computational gene finding. Our extension is better than TMHMM in predicting the topology of transmembrane proteins. As prediction of functional domain improves, our system's prediction accuracy will likely improve as well.
Asunto(s)
Proteínas de la Membrana/química , Modelos Moleculares , Biología Computacional , Simulación por Computador , Cadenas de Markov , Proteínas de la Membrana/genética , Estructura Secundaria de Proteína , Estructura Terciaria de Proteína , Alineación de Secuencia/estadística & datos numéricosRESUMEN
We have created a new Java-based integrated computational environment for the exploration of genomic data, called Bluejay. The system is capable of using almost any XML file related to genomic data. Non-XML data sources can be accessed via a proxy server. Bluejay has several features, which are new to Bioinformatics, including an unlimited semantic zoom capability, coupled with Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) outputs; an implementation of the XLink standard, which features access to MAGPIE Genecards as well as any BioMOBY service accessible over the Internet; and the integration of gene chip analysis tools with the functional assignments. The system can be used as a signed web applet, Web Start, and a local stand-alone application, with or without connection to the Internet. It is available free of charge and as open source via http://bluejay.ucalgary.ca.