Cellular processes, such as metabolism, signal transduction, or immunity, often depend on the homo-oligomerization of proteins. Detailed structural knowledge of the homo-oligomer structure is therefore crucial for molecular-level understanding of protein functions and their regulation. In this chapter, we introduce the GalaxyHomomer server, which supports easy-to-use web interfaces for general users. It is freely accessible at http://galaxy.seoklab.org/homomer . GalaxyHomomer carries out template-based modeling, ab initio docking or both depending on the availability of proper oligomer templates. It also incorporates recently developed model refinement methods that can consistently improve model quality by performing symmetric loop modeling and overall structure refinement. Moreover, the server provides additional options that can be chosen by the user depending on the availability of information on the monomer structure, oligomeric state, and locations of unreliable/flexible loops or termini.
Keywords: Ab initio docking; GalaxyHomomer; Homo-oligomer structure prediction; Model structure refinement; Symmetric loop modeling; Template-based modeling.