Patterns of divergence in homologous proteins as indicators of secondary and tertiary structure: a prediction of the structure of the catalytic domain of protein kinases.

The secondary structure and elements of tertiary structure have been predicted for the catalytic domain of protein kinases using a method that extracts structural information from the patterns of conservation and variation in an alignment of homologous proteins. The central features of this structural prediction are: (a) the catalytic domains of protein kinases do not incorporate a Rossmann fold; (b) the core of the structure is founded on beta sheets built from pairs of bent antiparallel beta strands; (c) five helices, including an especially long helix (alignment positions 129-152) that lie on the outside of the folded core. These proteins are important in many aspects of metabolic regulation.