Hierarchy of protein loop-lock structures: a new server for the decomposition of a protein structure into a set of closed loops

TL;DR

This paper introduces HoPLLS, a web server that decomposes protein structures into closed loops based on the loop-and-lock theory, aiding understanding of protein hierarchy and structural organization.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel web server and algorithms for decomposing proteins into loops, providing a new tool for analyzing protein structure hierarchy.

Findings

Identification of a structural 'alphabet' of loops and locks

Development of algorithms for protein decomposition into loops

Validation of the loop-and-lock theory in protein organization

Abstract

HoPLLS (Hierarchy of protein loop-lock structures) (http://leah.haifa.ac.il/~skogan/Apache/mydata1/main.html) is a web server that identifies closed loops - a structural basis for protein domain hierarchy. The server is based on the loop-and-lock theory for structural organisation of natural proteins. We describe this web server, the algorithms for the decomposition of a 3D protein into loops and the results of scientific investigations into a structural "alphabet" of loops and locks.