An integrated family of amino acid sequence analysis programs

During the last years abundant sequence data has become availabledue to the rapid progress in protein and DNA sequencing techniques.The exact three-dimensional structures, however, are availableonly for a fraction of proteins with known sequences. For manypurposes the primary amino acid sequence of a protein can bedirectly used to predict important structural parameters. However,mathematical presentation of the calculated values often makesinterpretation difficult, especially if many proteins must beanalysed and compared. Here we introduce a broad-based, user-definedanalysis of amino acid sequence information. The program packageis based on published algorithms and is designed to access standardprotein data bases, calculate hydropathy, surface probabilityand flexibility values and perform secondary structure predictions.The data output is in an ‘easy-to-read’ graphicformat and several parameters can be superimposed within a singleplot in order to simplify data interpretations. Additionally,this package includes a novel algorithm for the prediction ofpotential antigenic sites. Thus the software package presentedhere offers a powerful means of analysing an amino acid sequencefor the purpose of structure/function studies as well as antigenicsite analyses. These algorithms were written to function incontext with the UWGCG (University of Wisconsin Genetics ComputerGroup) program collection, and are now distributed within thatpackage. Received on March 20, 1987; accepted on September 4, 1987