Protein Identification and Analysis Tools in the ExPASy Server
Marc R. Wilkins, Elisabeth Gasteiger, Amos Bairoch, Jean-Charles Sánchez, Keith L. Williams, Ron D. Appel, Denis F. Hochstrasser
Abstract
Protein identification and analysis software performs a central role in the investigation of proteins from two-dimensional (2-D) gels. For protein identification, the user matches certain empirically gained information against a protein database to define a protein as already known or as novel. For protein analysis, information in protein databases can be used to predict certain properties about a protein, which can be useful for its empirical investigation. The two processes are thus complementary. Although there are numerable programs available for the above-mentioned applications, we have developed a set of original tools with a few main goals in mind. Specifically, these are: