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1 juli 2010, Contains fulltext : 89021.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access), The EMBRACE (European Model for Bioinformatics Research and Community Education) web service collection is the culmination of a 5-year project that set out to investigate issues involved in developing and deploying web services for use in the life sciences. The project concluded that in order for web services to achieve widespread adoption, standards must be defined for the choice of web service technology, for semantically annotating both service function and the data exchanged, and a mechanism for discovering services must be provided. Building on this, the project developed: EDAM, an ontology for describing life science web services; BioXSD, a schema for exchanging data between services; and a centralized registry (http://www.embraceregistry.net) that collects together around 1000 services developed by the consortium partners. This article presents the current status of the collection and its associated recommendations and standards definitions.

Contains fulltext : 89590.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access), BACKGROUND: Many newly detected point mutations are located in protein-coding regions of the human genome. Knowledge of their effects on the protein's 3D structure provides insight into the protein's mechanism, can aid the design of further experiments, and eventually can lead to the development of new medicines and diagnostic tools. RESULTS: In this article we describe HOPE, a fully automatic program that analyzes the structural and functional effects of point mutations. HOPE collects information from a wide range of information sources including calculations on the 3D coordinates of the protein by using WHAT IF Web services, sequence annotations from the UniProt database, and predictions by DAS services. Homology models are built with YASARA. Data is stored in a database and used in a decision scheme to identify the effects of a mutation on the protein's 3D structure and function. HOPE builds a report with text, figures, and animations that is easy to use and understandable for (bio)medical researchers. CONCLUSIONS: We tested HOPE by comparing its output to the results of manually performed projects. In all straightforward cases HOPE performed similar to a trained bioinformatician. The use of 3D structures helps optimize the results in terms of reliability and details. HOPE's results are easy to understand and are presented in a way that is attractive for researchers without an extensive bioinformatics background.

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01 juli 2010, Contains fulltext : 89595.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access), Ten years of experience with molecular class-specific information systems (MCSIS) such as with the hand-curated G protein-coupled receptor database (GPCRDB) or the semiautomatically generated nuclear receptor database has made clear that a wide variety of questions can be answered when protein-related data from many different origins can be flexibly combined. MCSISes revolve around a multiple sequence alignment (MSA) that includes "all" available sequences from the entire superfamily, and it has been shown at many occasions that the quality of these alignments is the most crucial aspect of the MCSIS approach. We describe here a system called 3DM that can automatically build an entire MCSIS. 3DM bases the MSA on a multiple structure alignment, which implies that the availability of a large number of superfamily members with a known three-dimensional structure is a requirement for 3DM to succeed well. Thirteen MCSISes were constructed and placed on the Internet for examination. These systems have been instrumental in a large series of research projects related to enzyme activity or the understanding and engineering of specificity, protein stability engineering, DNA-diagnostics, drug design, and so forth.

G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) constitute a large family of cell surface receptors that are involved in a wide range of physiological and pathological processes, and are targets for many therapeutic interventions. However, genetic models in the rat, one of the most widely used model organisms in physiological and pharmacological research, are largely lacking. Here, we applied N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU)-driven target-selected mutagenesis to generate an in vivo GPCR mutant collection in the rat. A pre-selected panel of 250 human GPCR homologs was screened for mutations in 813 rats, resulting in the identification of 131 non-synonymous mutations. From these, seven novel potential rat gene knockouts were established as well as 45 lines carrying missense mutations in various genes associated with or involved in human diseases. We provide extensive in silico modeling results of the missense mutations and show experimental data, suggesting loss-of-function phenotypes for several models, including Mc4r and Lpar1. Taken together, the approach used resulted not only in a set of novel gene knockouts, but also in allelic series of more subtle amino acid variants, similar as commonly observed in human disease. The mutants presented here may greatly benefit studies to understand specific GPCR function and support the development of novel therapeutic strategies.The Pharmacogenomics Journal advance online publication, 8 June 2010; doi:10.1038/tpj.2010.44., G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) constitute a large family of cell surface receptors that are involved in a wide range of physiological and pathological processes, and are targets for many therapeutic interventions. However, genetic models in the rat, one of the most widely used model organisms in physiological and pharmacological research, are largely lacking. Here, we applied N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU)-driven target-selected mutagenesis to generate an in vivo GPCR mutant collection in the rat. A pre-selected panel of 250 human GPCR homologs was screened for mutations in 813 rats, resulting in the identification of 131 non-synonymous mutations. From these, seven novel potential rat gene knockouts were established as well as 45 lines carrying missense mutations in various genes associated with or involved in human diseases. We provide extensive in silico modeling results of the missense mutations and show experimental data, suggesting loss-of-function phenotypes for several models, including Mc4r and Lpar1. Taken together, the approach used resulted not only in a set of novel gene knockouts, but also in allelic series of more subtle amino acid variants, similar as commonly observed in human disease. The mutants presented here may greatly benefit studies to understand specific GPCR function and support the development of novel therapeutic strategies.The Pharmacogenomics Journal advance online publication, 8 June 2010; doi:10.1038/tpj.2010.44.

The Protein Data Bank (PDB) is the world-wide repository of macromolecular structure information. We present a series of databases that run parallel to the PDB. Each database holds one entry, if possible, for each PDB entry. DSSP holds the secondary structure of the proteins. PDBREPORT holds reports on the structure quality and lists errors. HSSP holds a multiple sequence alignment for all proteins. The PDBFINDER holds easy to parse summaries of the PDB file content, augmented with essentials from the other systems. PDB_REDO holds re-refined, and often improved, copies of all structures solved by X-ray. WHY_NOT summarizes why certain files could not be produced. All these systems are updated weekly. The data sets can be used for the analysis of properties of protein structures in areas ranging from structural genomics, to cancer biology and protein design.

Contains fulltext : 75206.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access), SUMMARY: The EMBRACE Registry is a web portal that collects and monitors web services according to test scripts provided by the their administrators. Users are able to search for, rank and annotate services, enabling them to select the most appropriate working service for inclusion in their bioinformatics analysis tasks. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: Web site implemented with PHP, Python, MySQL and Apache, with all major browsers supported. (www.embraceregistry.net).

Contains fulltext : 75403.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access), Correlated mutation analyses (CMA) on multiple sequence alignments are widely used for the prediction of the function of amino acids. The accuracy of CMA-based predictions is mainly determined by the number of sequences, by their evolutionary distances, and by the quality of the alignments. These criteria are best met in structure-based sequence alignments of large super-families. So far, CMA-techniques have mainly been employed to study the receptor interactions. The present work shows how a novel CMA tool, called Comulator, can be used to determine networks of functionally related residues in enzymes. These analyses provide leads for protein engineering studies that are directed towards modification of enzyme specificity or activity. As proof of concept, Comulator has been applied to four enzyme super-families: the isocitrate lyase/phoshoenol-pyruvate mutase super-family, the hexokinase super-family, the RmlC-like cupin super-family, and the FAD-linked oxidases super-family. In each of those cases networks of functionally related residue positions were discovered that upon mutation influenced enzyme specificity and/or activity as predicted. We conclude that CMA is a powerful tool for redesigning enzyme activity and selectivity.

Contains fulltext : 81681.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)

Contains fulltext : 75318.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access), X-linked deafness type 3 (DFN3), the most prevalent X-linked form of hereditary deafness, is caused by mutations in the POU3F4 locus, which encodes a member of the POU family of transcription factors. Despite numerous reports on clinical evaluations and genetic analyses describing novel POU3F4 mutations, little is known about how such mutations affect normal functions of the POU3F4 protein and cause inner ear malformations and deafness. Here we describe three novel mutations of the POU3F4 gene and their clinical characterizations in three Korean families carrying deafness segregating at the DFN3 locus. The three mutations cause a substitution (p.Arg329Pro) or a deletion (p.Ser310del) of highly conserved amino acid residues in the POU homeodomain or a truncation that eliminates both DNA-binding domains (p.Ala116fs). In an attempt to better understand the molecular mechanisms underlying their inner ear defects, we examined the behavior of the normal and mutant forms of the POU3F4 protein in C3H/10T1/2 mesodermal cells. Protein modeling as well as in vitro assays demonstrated that these mutations are detrimental to the tertiary structure of the POU3F4 protein and severely affect its ability to bind DNA. All three mutated POU3F4 proteins failed to transactivate expression of a reporter gene. In addition, all three failed to inhibit the transcriptional activity of wild-type proteins when both wild-type and mutant proteins were coexpressed. Since most of the mutations reported for DFN3 thus far are associated with regions that encode the DNA binding domains of POU3F4, our results strongly suggest that the deafness in DFN3 patients is largely due to the null function of POU3F4.

Contains fulltext : 75744.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access), Several pilot experiments have indicated that improvements in older NMR structures can be expected by applying modern software and new protocols (Nabuurs et al. in Proteins 55:483-186, 2004; Nederveen et al. in Proteins 59:662-672, 2005; Saccenti and Rosato in J Biomol NMR 40:251-261, 2008). A recent large scale X-ray study also has shown that modern software can significantly improve the quality of X-ray structures that were deposited more than a few years ago (Joosten et al. in J. Appl Crystallogr 42:376-384, 2009; Sanderson in Nature 459:1038-1039, 2009). Recalculation of three-dimensional coordinates requires that the original experimental data are available and complete, and are semantically and syntactically correct, or are at least correct enough to be reconstructed. For multiple reasons, including a lack of standards, the heterogeneity of the experimental data and the many NMR experiment types, it has not been practical to parse a large proportion of the originally deposited NMR experimental data files related to protein NMR structures. This has made impractical the automatic recalculation, and thus improvement, of the three dimensional coordinates of these structures. We here describe a large-scale international collaborative effort to make all deposited experimental NMR data semantically and syntactically homogeneous, and thus useful for further research. A total of 4,014 out of 5,266 entries were 'cleaned' in this process. For 1,387 entries, human intervention was needed. Continuous efforts in automating the parsing of both old, and newly deposited files is steadily decreasing this fraction. The cleaned data files are available from the NMR restraints grid at http://restraintsgrid.bmrb.wisc.edu .

Contains fulltext : 80438.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access), Mucocutaneous fungal infections are typically found in patients who have no known immune defects. We describe a family in which four women who were affected by either recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis or onychomycosis had the early-stop-codon mutation Tyr238X in the beta-glucan receptor dectin-1. The mutated form of dectin-1 was poorly expressed, did not mediate beta-glucan binding, and led to defective production of cytokines (interleukin-17, tumor necrosis factor, and interleukin-6) after stimulation with beta-glucan or Candida albicans. In contrast, fungal phagocytosis and fungal killing were normal in the patients, explaining why dectin-1 deficiency was not associated with invasive fungal infections and highlighting the specific role of dectin-1 in human mucosal antifungal defense.

Contains fulltext : 75976.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access), The deposition of X-ray data along with the customary structural models defining PDB entries makes it possible to apply large-scale re-refinement protocols to these entries, thus giving users the benefit of improvements in X-ray methods that have occurred since the structure was deposited. Automated gradient refinement is an effective method to achieve this goal, but real-space intervention is most often required in order to adequately address problems detected by structure-validation software. In order to improve the existing protocol, automated re-refinement was combined with structure validation and difference-density peak analysis to produce a catalogue of problems in PDB entries that are amenable to automatic correction. It is shown that re-refinement can be effective in producing improvements, which are often associated with the systematic use of the TLS parameterization of B factors, even for relatively new and high-resolution PDB entries, while the accompanying manual or semi-manual map analysis and fitting steps show good prospects for eventual automation. It is proposed that the potential for simultaneous improvements in methods and in re-refinement results be further encouraged by broadening the scope of depositions to include refinement metadata and ultimately primary rather than reduced X-ray data.

Contains fulltext : 70580.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access), MOTIVATION: Recent advances in sequencing techniques have yielded enormous amounts of protein sequence data from various species. This large dataset allows sequence comparison between paralogous and orthologous proteins to identify motifs or functional positions that account for the differences of functional subgroups ('specificity' positions). Algorithms such as SDPpred and the two-entropies analysis (TEA) have been developed to detect such specificity positions from a multiple sequence alignment (MSA) grouped into classes according to certain biological functions. Other algorithms such as TreeDet compute a classification and then predict specificity positions associated with it. However, there are still many unresolved questions: Was the optimal subdivision of a protein family achieved? Do the definitions at different levels of the phylogenetic tree affect the prediction of specificity positions? Can the whole phylogenetic tree be used instead of only one level in it to predict specificity positions? RESULTS: Here we present a novel method, TEA-O (Two-entropies analysis-Objective), to trace the evolutionary pressure from the root to the branches of the phylogenetic tree. At each level of the tree, a TEA plot is produced to capture the signal of the evolutionary pressure. A consensus TEA-O plot is composed from the whole series of plots to provide a condensed representation. Positions related to functions that evolved early (conserved) or later (specificity) are close to the lower-left or upper-left corner of the TEA-O plot, respectively. This novel approach allows an unbiased, user-independent, analysis of residue relevance in a protein family. We compared our TEA-O method with various algorithms using both synthetic and real protein sequences. The results show that our method is robust, sensitive to subtle differences in evolutionary pressure during evolution and comprehensive because all positions in the MSA are presented in the consensus plot. AVAILABILITY: All

Contains fulltext : 69373_2.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access) Contains fulltext : 69373_1.pdf (author's version ) (Open Access), In a Dutch pedigree suffering from autosomal dominant nonsyndromic hearing impairment (ADNSHI), linkage was found to the locus for DFNA15, with a two-point logarithm of the odds (LOD) score of 5.1. Sequence analysis of the POU4F3 gene that is involved in DFNA15 revealed the presence of a missense mutation (c.865C>T), segregating with the deafness in this family. The mutation is predicted to result in the substitution of a phenylalanine residue for a leucine residue (p.L289F) in the POU homeodomain of the transcription factor POU4F3. Mutation analysis of the POU4F3 gene in 30 patients suffering from dominantly inherited hearing impairment revealed a second novel missense mutation (c.668T>C), resulting in the substitution of a proline for a leucine residue (p.L223P) within the POU-specific DNA-binding domain of the protein. In a computer model describing the structure of the two DNA-binding domains, the alterations are predicted to affect the tertiary structure of these domains. Transient transfection studies showed that whereas the wild-type POU4F3 is located almost exclusively in the nucleus, part of the mutant proteins was also present in the cytoplasm. In addition, both mutant proteins showed greatly reduced capability for binding to DNA as well as transcriptionally activating reporter gene expression. Together, our results describe the identification of the first missense mutations in POU4F3 causing DFNA15. Furthermore, mutations in this gene do not seem to be a rare cause of hearing impairment in the Dutch population, and the POU4F3 gene may thus be suitable for implementation in diagnostic testing.

Contains fulltext : 70748.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access), The 'omics' revolution is causing a flurry of data that all needs to be annotated for it to become useful. Sequences of proteins of unknown function can be annotated with a putative function by comparing them with proteins of known function. This form of annotation is typically performed with BLAST or similar software. Structural genomics is nowadays also bringing us three dimensional structures of proteins with unknown function. We present here software that can be used when sequence comparisons fail to determine the function of a protein with known structure but unknown function. The software, called 3D-Fun, is implemented as a server that runs at several European institutes and is freely available for everybody at all these sites. The 3D-Fun servers accept protein coordinates in the standard PDB format and compare them with all known protein structures by 3D structural superposition using the 3D-Hit software. If structural hits are found with proteins with known function, these are listed together with their function and some vital comparison statistics. This is conceptually very similar in 3D to what BLAST does in 1D. Additionally, the superposition results are displayed using interactive graphics facilities. Currently, the 3D-Fun system only predicts enzyme function but an expanded version with Gene Ontology predictions will be available soon. The server can be accessed at http://3dfun.bioinfo.pl/ or at http://3dfun.cmbi.ru.nl/.

Contains fulltext : 70715.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access), Recently, a solid-state NMR study revealed that scorpion toxin binding leads to conformational changes in the selectivity filter of potassium channels. The exact nature of the conformational changes, however, remained elusive. We carried out all-atom molecular dynamics simulations that enabled us to cover the complete pathway of toxin approach and binding, and we validated our simulation results by using solid-state NMR data and electrophysiological measurements. Our structural model revealed a mechanism of cooperative toxin-induced conformational changes that accounts both for the signal changes observed in solid-state NMR and for the tight interaction between KcsA-Kv1.3 and Kaliotoxin. We show that this mechanism is structurally and functionally closely related to recovery from C-type inactivation. Furthermore, our simulations indicate heterogeneity in the binding modes of Kaliotoxin, which might serve to enhance its affinity for KcsA-Kv1.3 further by entropic stabilization.

Contains fulltext : 70831.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)

Veel publicaties gaan vaak over technische ontwikkelingen, nieuwe processen of verbeterde resultaten. Echter bij de menselijke kant en eventuele consequenties, die horen bij die verbeteringen wordt niet altijd stilgestaan. Toch is dit ontzettend belangrijk, omdat de medewerkers op en rond de rwzi's en de medewerkers die in het veld werkzaam zijn hier mee te maken hebben. Om de nieuwe processen bij te kunnen benen, wordt de theoretische kennis bij de medewerkers vergroot. Maar vaak wordt er niet bij stilgestaan dat de verbeterde processen, technieken of werkmethoden één belangrijke consequentie hebben: er zijn minder mensen nodig, terwijl de medewerker meer processen moet overzien en beheren. Het waterschap Reest en Wieden in Meppel is zuinig op de medewerkers en heeft een systeem gevonden dat past bij medewerkers die 'alleen-werken'

Sinds 2000 is waterschap Reest en Wieden in het bezit van een uitgebreid onderhouds- en beheerssysteem. De afgelopen jaren is het onderhouds- en beheers-systeem om allerlei redenen bij het waterschap Reest en Wieden steeds minder functioneel geworden. Waarom? Waar ging het mis? Wat is er nu aangedaan? Dit artikel beschrijft het traject hoe het waterschap Reest en Wieden van een werkend onderhouds- en beheerssysteem, via een niet goed functionerende situatie naar een weer operationeel onderhouds- en beheerssysteem is gekomen

Contains fulltext : 36286.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)

Contains fulltext : 36489.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access), Hydrophobic interactions play an important role in assembly processes in aqueous environments. In case of peptide amphiphiles, hydrophobicity is combined with hydrogen bonding to yield well-defined peptide-based aggregates. Here, we report a systematic study after the role of hydrophobic interactions on both stabilization and morphology of a peptide fibrillar assembly. For this purpose, alkyl tails were connected to a known beta-sheet forming peptide with the sequence KTVIIE. The introduction of n-alkyl groups induced thermal stability to the assemblies without affecting the morphology of the peptide aggregates.

Contains fulltext : 36408.pdf ( ) (Open Access), BACKGROUND: G Protein-Coupled Receptors (GPCRs) are a large and diverse family of membrane proteins whose members participate in the regulation of most cellular and physiological processes and therefore represent key pharmacological targets. Although several bioinformatics resources support research on GPCRs, most of these have been designed based on the traditional assumption that monomeric GPCRs constitute the functional receptor unit. The increase in the frequency and number of reports about GPCR dimerization/oligomerization and the implication of oligomerization in receptor function makes necessary the ability to store and access information about GPCR dimers/oligomers electronically. RESULTS: We present here the requirements and ontology (the information scheme to describe oligomers and associated concepts and their relationships) for an information system that can manage the elements of information needed to describe comprehensively the phenomena of both homo- and hetero-oligomerization of GPCRs. The comprehensive information management scheme that we plan to use for the development of an intuitive and user-friendly GPCR-Oligomerization Knowledge Base (GPCR-OKB) is the result of a community dialog involving experimental and computational colleagues working on GPCRs. CONCLUSION: Our long term goal is to disseminate to the scientific community organized, curated, and detailed information about GPCR dimerization/oligomerization and its related structural context. This information will be reported as close to the data as possible so the user can make his own judgment on the conclusions drawn for a particular study. The requirements and ontology described here will facilitate the development of future information systems for GPCR oligomers that contain both computational and experimental information about GPCR oligomerization. This information is freely accessible at http://www.gpcr-okb.org.

RU Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 5 oktober 2007, Promotor : Vriend, G., Contains fulltext : 30962.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)

Contains fulltext : 36617.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)

Contains fulltext : 35967.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access), Many enzymes that hydrolyze insoluble crystalline polysaccharides such as cellulose and chitin guide detached single-polymer chains through long and deep active-site clefts, leading to processive (stepwise) degradation of the polysaccharide. We have studied the links between enzyme efficiency and processivity by analyzing the effects of mutating aromatic residues in the substrate-binding groove of a processive chitobiohydrolase, chitinase B from Serratia marcescens. Mutation of two tryptophan residues (Trp-97 and Trp-220) close to the catalytic center (subsites +1 and +2) led to reduced processivity and a reduced ability to degrade crystalline chitin, suggesting that these two properties are linked. Most remarkably, the loss of processivity in the W97A mutant was accompanied by a 29-fold increase in the degradation rate for single-polymer chains as present in the soluble chitin-derivative chitosan. The properties of the W220A mutant showed a similar trend, although mutational effects were less dramatic. Processivity is thought to contribute to the degradation of crystalline polysaccharides because detached single-polymer chains are kept from reassociating with the solid material. The present results show that this processivity comes at a large cost in terms of enzyme speed. Thus, in some cases, it might be better to focus strategies for enzymatic depolymerization of polysaccharide biomass on improving substrate accessibility for nonprocessive enzymes rather than on improving the properties of processive enzymes.

Contains fulltext : 36179.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access), A number of large-scale efforts are underway to define the relationships between genes and proteins in various species. But, few attempts have been made to systematically classify all such relationships at the phenotype level. Also, it is unknown whether such a phenotype map would carry biologically meaningful information. We have used text mining to classify over 5000 human phenotypes contained in the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man database. We find that similarity between phenotypes reflects biological modules of interacting functionally related genes. These similarities are positively correlated with a number of measures of gene function, including relatedness at the level of protein sequence, protein motifs, functional annotation, and direct protein-protein interaction. Phenotype grouping reflects the modular nature of human disease genetics. Thus, phenotype mapping may be used to predict candidate genes for diseases as well as functional relations between genes and proteins. Such predictions will further improve if a unified system of phenotype descriptors is developed. The phenotype similarity data are accessible through a web interface at http://www.cmbi.ru.nl/MimMiner/.