May 15, 2005 (Vol. 25, No. 10)

URL:
http://www-smi.stanford.edu/projects/helix/LPFC

Rating:
Strong Points: Interesting Idea
Weak Points: Spartan Interface

Summary:
As described at the site, scientists have been classifying proteins into families of structures almost as long as they have been determining structures. LPFC (Library of Protein Family Cores) is yet another attempt to identify protein structures that can be used to sort proteins into groups and identify unknown members belonging to the same groups. The method for accomplishing this here is the definition of Average Protein Cores. These structures are created by identifying sets of atoms in protein sequence in the same relative regions of space. Once identified as such, the structures are categorized statistically to define the average orientations in domains and thus develop new ways to categorize structural similarity that is relatively unbiased. Whew, that is a mouthful, but I imagine it is actually easier to describe than to determine. The important thing for visitors to the site is that they can easily search the database using information from the PDB database. Another clever and ambitious idea.

Previous articleOutsourcing and Globalization in the Industry
Next articleGlobal Amphibian Assessment