Alva Vikram, Koretke Kristin K, Coles Murray, Lupas Andrei N
Department of Protein Evolution, Max-Planck-Institute for Developmental Biology, Spemannstr. 35, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany.
Curr Opin Struct Biol. 2008 Jun;18(3):358-65. doi: 10.1016/j.sbi.2008.02.006. Epub 2008 May 3.
Current classification systems for protein structure show many inconsistencies both within and between systems. The metafold concept was introduced to identify fold similarities by consensus and thus provide a more unified view of fold space. Using cradle-loop barrels as an example, we propose to use the metafold as the next hierarchical level above the fold, encompassing a group of topologically related folds for which a homologous relationship has been substantiated. We see this as an important step on the way to a classification of proteins by natural descent.
当前的蛋白质结构分类系统在系统内部和系统之间都存在许多不一致之处。引入元折叠概念是为了通过共识识别折叠相似性，从而提供对折叠空间更统一的视图。以摇篮环桶为例，我们建议将元折叠用作高于折叠的下一个层次级别，涵盖一组拓扑相关的折叠，其同源关系已得到证实。我们认为这是迈向按自然谱系对蛋白质进行分类的重要一步。
