February 15, 2005 (Vol. 25, No. 4)
URL:
http://merops.sanger.ac.uk/
Rating:
Strong Points: Well thought out
Weak Points: None
Summary:
You can call them peptidases, proteases, proteinases, or proteolytic enzymes, but whatever you call them, you can probably find them at the Merops database. The site employs an interesting scheme for organizing peptidases. First, they are grouped in families according to statistically significant amino acid sequence similarities, and then families that are thought to be related are placed in clans. One can locate desired peptidases by name or accession number and, in addition, a BLAST function allows one to search the Merops databases with user-supplied sequences. As if that wasn’t enough, the site also contains a database of peptidase inhibitors that can be similarly searched. Another site where the site’s creators have anticipated user needs and designed accordingly.
