Predicting Sequence Features, Function, and Structure of Proteins Using MESSA.

MEta-Server for protein Sequence Analysis (MESSA) is a tool that facilitates widespread protein sequence analysis by gathering structural (local sequence properties and three-dimensional structure) and functional (annotations from SWISS-PROT, Gene Ontology terms, and enzyme classification) predictions for a query protein of interest. MESSA uses multiple well-established tools to offer consensus-based predictions on important aspects of protein sequence analysis. Being freely available for noncommercial users and with a user-friendly interface, MESSA serves as an umbrella platform that overcomes the absence of a comprehensive tool for predictive protein analysis. This article reveals how to access MESSA via the Web and shows how to input a protein sequence to analyze using the MESSA web server. It also includes a detailed explanation of the output from MESSA to aid in better interpretation of results.