Bioinformatics and Biology Insights

Proteins may be related to each other very specifically as homologous subfamilies. Proteins can also be related to diverse proteins at the super family level. It has become highly important to characterize the existing sequence databases by their signatures to facilitate the function annotation of newly added sequences. The algorithm described here uses a scheme for the classification of odorant binding proteins on the basis of functional residues and Cys-pairing. The cysteine-based scoring scheme not only helps in unambiguously identifying families like odorant binding proteins (OBPs), but also aids in their classification at the subfamily level with reliable accuracy. The algorithm was also applied to yet another cysteine-rich family, where similar accuracy was observed that ensures the application of the protocol to other families.