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R Leplae

Publications and source records attributed to R Leplae.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Analysis and assessment of comparative modeling predictions in CASP4.

We describe here the results of our analysis of the comparative modeling predictions submitted to the fourth round of Critical Assessment of Structure Prediction (CASP4). On the basis of a numerical evaluation of the models, we assessed their ability to predict the overall fold correctly, the relative orientation of domains in multidomain proteins, the conformation of the side chains, the loop regions, and the biologically important residues of the targets. We also discuss the performance of automatic prediction servers and compare the results of CASP4 with those obtained in CASP3.

Automation↗

GLASS: a tool to visualize protein structure prediction data in three dimensions and evaluate their consistency.

When a protein sequence does not share any significant sequence similarity with a protein of known structure, homology modeling cannot be applied. However, many novel and interesting methods, such as secondary structure prediction, fold recognition, and prediction of long-range interactions, are being developed and have been shown to be reasonably successful in predicting protein structures from sequence data and evolutionary information. The a priori evaluation of the correctness of a prediction obtained by one of these methods is however often problematic. Consequently, it is important to use all available information provided by as many different methods as possible and all the available experimental data about the protein of interest, since the consistency of the results is indicative of the reliability of the prediction. Hence the need has arisen for suitable tools able to compare results provided by different methods and evaluate their consistency. We have therefore constructed GLASS, a general platform to read, visualize, compare, and evaluate prediction results from many different sources and to project these prediction results into three dimensions. In addition, GLASS allows the comparison of selected parameters calculated for a model with the distribution observed in real protein structures, thus providing an easy way to test new methods for evaluating the likelihood of different structural models. GLASS can be considered as a "workbench" for structural predictions useful to both experimentalists and theoreticians.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Protein structure prediction and design.

Proteins have a unique native conformation, which can be proven in many instances to be determined by the amino acid sequence alone. The folding problem, that is the understanding of how the amino acid sequence directs folding, is still unsolved, despite more than 30 years of effort. However, many new methods have appeared in the past few years. This chapter describes the different principles underlying them and tries to give an overview of their successes and pitfalls.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Identification of residues potentially involved in the interactions between subunits in yeast alcohol dehydrogenases.

The lack of crystal structure for tetrameric yeast alcohol dehydrogenases (ADHs) has precluded, until now, the identification of the residues involved in subunit contacts. In order to address this question, we have characterized the thermal stability and dissociation propensity of native ADH I and ADH II isozymes as well as of several chimeric (ADH I-ADH II) enzymes. Three groups of substitutions affecting the thermostability have been identified among the 24 substitutions observed between isozymes I and II. The first group contains a Cys277-->Ser substitution, located at the interface between subunits in a three-dimensional model of ADH I, based on the crystallographic structure of the dimeric horse liver ADH. In the second group, the Asp236-->Asn substitution is located in the same interaction zone on the model. The stabilizing effect of this substitution can result from the removal of a charge repulsion between subunits. It is shown that the effect of these two groups of substitutions correlates with changes in dissociation propensities. The third group contains the Met168-->Arg substitution that increases the thermal stability, probably by the formation of an additional salt bridge between subunits through the putative interface. These data suggest that at least part of the subunit contacts observed in horse liver ADH are located at homologous positions in yeast ADHs.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase↗

PLANET: a phage library analysis expert tool.

In recent years random peptide libraries displayed on filamentous phage have been widely used and new ideas and techniques are continuously developing in the field (1-5). Notwithstanding this growing interest in the technique and in its promising results, and the enormous increase in usage and scope, very little effort has been devoted to the implementation of software able to handle and analyze the growing number of phage library-derived sequences. In our laboratory, phage libraries are extensively used and peptide sequences are continuously produced, so that the need arose of creating a database (6) to collect all the experimental results in a format compatible with GCG sequence analysis packages (7). We present here the description of an XWindow-based software package named PLANET (Phage Library ANalysis Expert Tool) devoted to the maintenance and statistical analysis of the database.

Bacteriophages↗