Zhang Zong Hong, Khoo Aik Aun, Mihalek Ivana
Bioinformatics Institute, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore.
PLoS One. 2013 Nov 20;8(11):e79480. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0079480. eCollection 2013.
When comparing sequences of similar proteins, two kinds of questions can be asked, and the related two kinds of inference made. First, one may ask to what degree they are similar, and then, how they differ. In the first case one may tentatively conclude that the conserved elements common to all sequences are of central and common importance to the protein's function. In the latter case the regions of specialization may be discriminative of the function or binding partners across subfamilies of related proteins. Experimental efforts - mutagenesis or pharmacological intervention - can then be pointed in either direction, depending on the context of the study. Cube simplifies this process for users that already have their favorite sets of sequences, and helps them collate the information by visualization of the conservation and specialization scores on the sequence and on the structure, and by spreadsheet tabulation. All information can be visualized on the spot, or downloaded for reference and later inspection.
在比较相似蛋白质的序列时,可以提出两种问题,并做出相关的两种推断。首先,可以问它们的相似程度如何,然后问它们有何不同。在第一种情况下,可以初步得出结论,所有序列共有的保守元件对蛋白质的功能至关重要。在第二种情况下,特化区域可能区分相关蛋白质亚家族的功能或结合伙伴。然后,可以根据研究背景,将实验工作——诱变或药理干预——指向任何一个方向。对于已经有自己喜欢的序列集的用户,Cube简化了这个过程,并通过可视化序列和结构上的保守性和特化分数以及电子表格列表,帮助他们整理信息。所有信息都可以当场可视化,或下载以供参考和以后查看。