AH-DB: collecting protein structure pairs before and after binding

Nucleic Acids Res. 2012 Jan;40(Database issue):D472-8. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkr940. Epub 2011 Nov 13.

Abstract

This work presents the Apo-Holo DataBase (AH-DB, http://ahdb.ee.ncku.edu.tw/ and http://ahdb.csbb.ntu.edu.tw/), which provides corresponding pairs of protein structures before and after binding. Conformational transitions are commonly observed in various protein interactions that are involved in important biological functions. For example, copper-zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD1), which destroys free superoxide radicals in the body, undergoes a large conformational transition from an 'open' state (apo structure) to a 'closed' state (holo structure). Many studies have utilized collections of apo-holo structure pairs to investigate the conformational transitions and critical residues. However, the collection process is usually complicated, varies from study to study and produces a small-scale data set. AH-DB is designed to provide an easy and unified way to prepare such data, which is generated by identifying/mapping molecules in different Protein Data Bank (PDB) entries. Conformational transitions are identified based on a refined alignment scheme to overcome the challenge that many structures in the PDB database are only protein fragments and not complete proteins. There are 746,314 apo-holo pairs in AH-DB, which is about 30 times those in the second largest collection of similar data. AH-DB provides sophisticated interfaces for searching apo-holo structure pairs and exploring conformational transitions from apo structures to the corresponding holo structures.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Databases, Protein*
  • Models, Molecular
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Conformation*
  • Superoxide Dismutase / chemistry
  • Superoxide Dismutase-1
  • User-Computer Interface

Substances

  • Superoxide Dismutase
  • Superoxide Dismutase-1