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Updated: Oct 3, 2026

A Protocol for Computer-Based Protein Structure and Function Prediction
Published on: November 3, 2011
A computer system to perform structure comparison using TOPS representations of protein structure
D Gilbert1, D Westhead, J Viksna
1Department of Computing, City, University, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB, UK. drg@soi.city.ac.uk
Abstract:
We describe the design and implementation of a fast topology-based method for protein structure comparison. The approach uses the TOPS topological representation of protein structure, aligning two structures using a common discovered pattern and generating measure of distance derived from an insert score. Heavy use is made of a constraint-based pattern-matching algorithm for TOPS diagrams that we have designed and described elsewhere (Bioinformatics 15(4) (1999) 317). The comparison system is maintained at the European Bioinformatics Institute and is available over the Web at tops.ebi.ac.uk/tops. Users submit a structure description in Protein Data Bank (PDB) format and can compare it with structures in the entire PDB or a representative subset of protein domains, receiving the results by email.
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