Genome Biology

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CPSARST: an efficient circular permutation search tool applied to the detection of novel protein structural relationships

Wei-Cheng Lo and Ping-Chiang Lyu*

Author Affiliations

Institute of Bioinformatics and Structural Biology, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan

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Genome Biology 2008, 9:R11 doi:10.1186/gb-2008-9-1-r11

Published: 18 January 2008

Abstract

Circular permutation of a protein can be visualized as if the original amino- and carboxyl termini were linked and new ones created elsewhere. It has been well-documented that circular permutants usually retain native structures and biological functions. Here we report CPSARST (Circular Permutation Search Aided by Ramachandran Sequential Transformation) to be an efficient database search tool. In this post-genomics era, when the amount of protein structural data is increasing exponentially, it provides a new way to rapidly detect novel relationships among proteins.