IMGT gene identification and Colliers de Perles of human immunoglobulins with known 3D structures.

A new database, IMGT/3Dstructure-DB, was developed and implemented in the IMGT (international ImMunoGeneTics database) information system (http://imgt.cines.fr) to provide a unique expertised resource on immunoglobulin and T-cell receptor structural data. Corresponding protein sequences were annotated with IMGT tools, which allow the precise identification of the genes expressed in these proteins, and the description of framework and complementarity determining regions according to the IMGT standardized nomenclature and IMGT unique numbering. Two-dimensional graphical representations of the V-DOMAINs, designated as Colliers de Perles, are automatically produced. A query Web interface allows interactive search of the IMGT/3D structure-DB data. In this article, IMGT gene identification and Colliers de Perles of human immunoglobulins with known 3D structures in the Protein Data Bank are presented.