Aligning sequences to structures

Methods Mol Biol. 2008:413:61-90. doi: 10.1007/978-1-59745-574-9_3.

Abstract

Most newly sequenced proteins are likely to adopt a similar structure to one which has already been experimentally determined. For this reason, the most successful approaches to protein structure prediction have been template-based methods. Such prediction methods attempt to identify and model the folds of unknown structures by aligning the target sequences to a set of representative template structures within a fold library. In this chapter, I discuss the development of template-based approaches to fold prediction, from the traditional techniques to the recent state-of-the-art methods. I also discuss the recent development of structural annotation databases, which contain models built by aligning the sequences from entire proteomes against known structures. Finally, I run through a practical step-by-step guide for aligning target sequences to known structures and contemplate the future direction of template-based structure prediction.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Computer Simulation
  • Databases, Protein
  • Humans
  • Models, Molecular
  • Protein Conformation*
  • Protein Folding
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Proteins / chemistry
  • Sequence Alignment / methods*
  • Sequence Analysis, Protein*

Substances

  • Proteins