Nature Structural Biology
6, 672 - 682 (1999)
doi:10.1038/10728
A protein taxonomy based on secondary structureTeresa Przytycka1, Rajeev Aurora1, 2
& George D. Rose11
Department of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry,
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 725 N. Wolfe Street,
Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA. 2
Current address: Monsanto, Mail Zone AA3G,
700 Chesterfield Parkway, St. Louis, Missouri
63198, USA.
Correspondence should be addressed to George D. Rose rose@grserv.med.jhmi.eduDoes a protein's secondary structure determine its three-dimensional fold?
This question is tested directly by analyzing proteins of known structure
and constructing a taxonomy based solely on secondary structure. The taxonomy
is generated automatically, and it takes the form of a tree in which proteins
with similar secondary structure occupy neighboring leaves. Our tree is largely
in agreement with results from the structural classification of proteins (SCOP),
a multidimensional classification based on homologous sequences, full three-dimensional
structure, information about chemistry and evolution, and human judgment.
Our findings suggest a simple mechanism of protein evolution.
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