The challenge of annotating protein sequences: The tale of eight domains of unknown function in Pfam.
The Pfam database is an important tool in genome annotation, since it provides a collection of curated protein families. However, a subset of these families, known as domains of unknown function (DUFs), remains poorly characterized. We have related sequences from DUF404, DUF407, DUF482, DUF608, DUF810, DUF853, DUF976 and DUF1111 to homologs in PDB, within the midnight zone (9-20%) of sequence identity. These relationships were extended to provide functional annotation by sequence analysis and model building. Also described are examples of residue plasticity within enzyme active sites, and change of function within homologous sequences of a DUF.
Goonesekere
Nalin C W
NC
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Northern Iowa, 1227 West 27th Street, Cedar Falls, IA 50613-0423, USA. nalin.goonesekere@uni.edu
Shipely
Krysten
K
O'Connor
Kevin
K
D020134:Catalytic Domain; D030562:Databases, Protein; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation / Q000379:methods*; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid