| Literature DB >> 16842622 |
Peter L Chang1, Andrew W Rinne, T Gregory Dewey.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: A structure alignment method based on a local geometric property is presented and its performance is tested in pairwise and multiple structure alignments. In this approach, the writhing number, a quantity originating from integral formulas of Vassiliev knot invariants, is used as a local geometric measure. This measure is used in a sliding window to calculate the local writhe down the length of the protein chain. By encoding the distribution of writhing numbers across all the structures in the protein databank (PDB), protein geometries are represented in a 20-letter alphabet. This encoding transforms the structure alignment problem into a sequence alignment problem and allows the well-established algorithms of sequence alignment to be employed. Such geometric alignments offer distinct advantages over structural alignments in Cartesian coordinates as it better handles structural subtleties associated with slight twists and bends that distort one structure relative to another.Entities:
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Year: 2006 PMID: 16842622 PMCID: PMC1559724 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2105-7-346
Source DB: PubMed Journal: BMC Bioinformatics ISSN: 1471-2105 Impact factor: 3.169
Figure 1Definition of vectors for a polygonal curve. Definition of vectors used in the computation of the writhe number of two segments of a polygonal curve. Points 1 and 2 define the first segment, and 3 and 4 the second. The vectors r13, r14, r23, and r24, are translated so that they originate at the center of a unit sphere. The area A of the quadrangle they span is given by A = α+β+γ+δ-2π, where α is the size of the angle measured in radians.
Figure 2Distribution of writhing numbers across protein structures. The distribution of writhing numbers from segments of all proteins in the PDB using a window size of 4, 5, 6 and 10. The histrogram was broken up into twenty regions of constant population (area under the curve). These 20 regions were used to define a topological alphabet. Notice that the range of writhing number increases with segment size.
Figure 3The BLOCK scoring matrix for the encoded writhing number. Diagram represents a color coded scoring matrix for an alphabet of 20 letters and a window size of 5.