Automated modelling of the transmembrane region of G-protein coupled receptor by Swiss-model.

Molecular modelling of the transmembrane helices of G-protein coupled receptors is an increasingly used method to identify the possible three-dimensional environment of key residues. Thereby site-directed mutagenesis experiments, aimed at the understanding of the receptor-ligand interactions, can be designed in a rational way. The modelling methods are however not generally available to experimentalists, and often require expensive software and hardware. To overcome these limitations, we have constructed a World Wide Web server for the automated protein modelling of user-defined transmembrane helices. The service is freely available at this address: http:/(/)expasy.hcuge.ch/swissmod/SWISS-MODEL.++ +html.