Remotely related sequences and structures: analysis and predictive modelling

Through the comprehensive analysis of protein sequence and structural data, relationships can be established that suggest, with varying degrees of success, structural models for a protein for which only the sequence is known. The certainty with which a model can be proposed depends on the degree of similarity between the sequence of unknown structure and the sequence of a protein of known structure. Methods are being developed to detect remote similarities between sequences or structures, and to predict protein structure based on such small levels of similarity.