Environment specific substitution tables for thermophilic proteins

Background: Thermophilic organisms are able to live at high temperatures ranging from 50 to > 100°C. Their proteins must be sufficiently stable to function under these extreme conditions; however, the basis for thermostability remains elusive. Subtle differences between thermophilic and mesophilic molecules can be found when sequences or structures from homologous proteins are compared, but often these differences are family-specific and few general rules have been derived. The availability of complete genome sequences has now made it feasible to perform a large-scale comparison between mesophilic and thermophilic proteins, the latter of which primarily come from archaeal genomes although a few complete genomes of thermophilic eubacteria are also available. Results: We compared mesophilic proteins with their thermophilic counterparts of archaeal or eubacterial origins independently. This was based on the assumption that in these two kingdoms, different mechanisms may have been exp...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2007
• Where: BMCBI
• Authors: K. Mizuguchi, M. Sele, Maria Vittoria Cubellis
• Keywords: BMCBI 2007, Genomes, Proteins, Thermophilic Proteins