| TECHNOLOGY |
A new computational technique called THEMATICS predicts active sites of enzymes & identifies the specific amino acid residues that play leading roles in enzymatic catalysis. It’s one of several theoretical techniques that have been developed recently to pinpoint functionally significant sites in proteins THEMATICS – which stands for “THEoretical Microscopic TItration CurveS” – is a a priori method for pinpointing active sites in enzymes whose structures are known but for which other biochemical & activity data are lacking. It has potential as a guide to drug design & as a means to help determine the function of newly discovered proteins – a key goal of proteo mics, the high-throughput study of protein expression & function. The researchers analyzed the theoretical titration curves of all the ionizable amino acid residues in 3 enzymes & found that “a small fraction (3-7%) of the curves possess a flat region where the residue is partially protonated over a wide pH range” “The preponderance of residues with such perturbed curves occurs in the active site”. They then showed that pH curve analysis could be used successfully to identify known active sites in number of other enzymes of varied activity & structure What is novel about THEMATICS is the realization by researchers that abnormal pH behavior is a computational halklmark of active sites & that it can therefore be used to identify active site residues in a priori manner |
| UPDATE | 11.01 |
| AUTHOR | This data is not available for free |
| LITERATURE REF. | This data is not available for free |
|
Want more information ? Interested in the hidden information ? Click here and do your request. |