Abstract

Predictions of the secondary structure of T4 phage lysozyme, made by a number of investigators on the basis of the amino acid sequence, are compared with the structure of the protein determined experimentally by X-ray crystallography. Within the amino terminal half of the molecule the locations of helices predicted by a number of methods agree moderately well with the observed structure, however within the carboxyl half of the molecule the overall agreement is poor. For eleven different helix predictions, the coefficients giving the correlation between prediction and observation range from 0.14 to 0.42. The accuracy of the predictions for both β-sheet regions and for turns are generally lower than for the helices, and in a number of instances the agreement between prediction and observation is no better than would be expected for a random selection of residues. The structural predictions for T4 phage lysozyme are much less successful than was the case for adenylate kinase (Schulz et al. (1974) Nature 250, 140–142). No one method of prediction is clearly superior to all others, and although empirical predictions based on larger numbers of known protein structure tend to be more accurate than those based on a limited sample, the improvement in accuracy is not dramatic, suggesting that the accuracy of current empirical predictive methods will not be substantially increased simply by the inclusion of more data from additional protein structure determinations.

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.