CELLO2GO: a web server for protein subCELlular LOcalization prediction with functional gene ontology annotation

PLoS One. 2014 Jun 9;9(6):e99368. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0099368. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

CELLO2GO (http://cello.life.nctu.edu.tw/cello2go/) is a publicly available, web-based system for screening various properties of a targeted protein and its subcellular localization. Herein, we describe how this platform is used to obtain a brief or detailed gene ontology (GO)-type categories, including subcellular localization(s), for the queried proteins by combining the CELLO localization-predicting and BLAST homology-searching approaches. Given a query protein sequence, CELLO2GO uses BLAST to search for homologous sequences that are GO annotated in an in-house database derived from the UniProt KnowledgeBase database. At the same time, CELLO attempts predict at least one subcellular localization on the basis of the species in which the protein is found. When homologs for the query sequence have been identified, the number of terms found for each of their GO categories, i.e., cellular compartment, molecular function, and biological process, are summed and presented as pie charts representing possible functional annotations for the queried protein. Although the experimental subcellular localization of a protein may not be known, and thus not annotated, CELLO can confidentially suggest a subcellular localization. CELLO2GO should be a useful tool for research involving complex subcellular systems because it combines CELLO and BLAST into one platform and its output is easily manipulated such that the user-specific questions may be readily addressed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Bacterial Proteins / metabolism
  • Computational Biology / methods
  • Databases, Genetic*
  • Datasets as Topic
  • Internet
  • Molecular Sequence Annotation
  • Protein Transport
  • Proteins / genetics
  • Proteins / metabolism*
  • Software*
  • User-Computer Interface

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Proteins

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grant in part from the National Science Council of Taiwan [NSC-101-2113-M-035-002 to CSY], the Academic Summit Program of National Science Council of Taiwan [NSC-103-2745-B-009-001 to JKH], the "Center for Bioinformatics Research of Aiming for the Top University Program" of National Chiao Tung University and Ministry of Education of Taiwan, and China Medical University of Taiwan [CMU99-N2-02-2 to CHL]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.