ISSN:
1522-9602
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
,
Mathematics
Notes:
Abstract Concepts of the uniqueness of the amino acid sequences of proteins were defined in a prior report (Saroff, H. A. and F. A. Kutyna. 1981. “The Uniqueness of Protein Sequences: A Monte Carlo Analysis.”Bull. math. Biol. 43, 619–639), which presented a detailed discussion ofi-uniqueness, i.e. the tendency of small peptides to be repeated within an amino acid sequence of a protein. We now report on the quantitative analysis ofo-uniqueness, which evaluates the tendency of small peptides to be repeated amongst different proteins, usually of a single species. A detailed analysis of theo-uniqueness of several proteins is presented to illustrate the method and the range of values encountered. Uniqueness data on sequences of human proteins in a data bank of sequences containing about 32,500 amino acids are made available in the form of a microfiche. Analysis of biologically active subsequences such as the angiotensins and the enkephalins suggest a tendency of the subsequences contributing to the property ofo-uniqueness to cluster in portions of the parent protein sequence which are biologically active. This property may provide a general method for predicting biologically active areas of proteins. Current data may already be adequate to permit useful predictions, and the rapidly accumulating and interrelated new data on nucleic acid and protein sequences will further enhance the power ofo-uniqueness analysis.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02459391
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