EC-BLAST: a tool to automatically search and compare enzyme reactions.

ABSTRACT

We present EC-BLAST (http//www.ebi.ac.uk/thornton-srv/software/rbl/), an algorithm and Web tool for quantitative similarity searches between enzyme reactions at three levels bond change, reaction center and reaction structure similarity. It uses bond changes and reaction patterns for all known biochemical reactions derived from atom-atom mapping across each reaction. EC-BLAST has the potential to improve enzyme classification, identify previously uncharacterized or new biochemical transformations, improve the assignment of enzyme function to sequences, and assist in enzyme engineering.