The Mendel Site

The Mendel Site predicts posttranslational modifications and localization signals in protein sequences, focusing on lipid modifications such as N-myristoylation and glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) lipid anchoring, and peroxisomal targeting signals (PTS1).

Key Features:

• N-myristoylation (NMT predictor): Identifies glycine N-myristoylation sites in higher eukaryotes, fungi, and their viruses.
• GPI lipid anchoring (big-Pi): Predicts C-terminal signals for glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor attachment across metazoan, protozoan, and plant sequences.
• PTS1 signal predictor: Detects C-terminal peroxisomal targeting signals suitable for peroxisomal import in metazoa and fungi.
• Terminal-region basis: Makes predictions from short, compositionally biased regions located at protein N- or C-termini.
• Sequence-correlation modeling: Exploits significant interpositional correlations in sequence signals for prediction.
• Taxon-specific handling: Accounts for taxon-specific variations due to divergent evolution of the modifying enzyme complexes.

Scientific Applications:

• Protein modification mapping: Identification of N-myristoylation and GPI anchor signals to annotate lipid modifications in proteomes.
• Subcellular localization studies: Prediction of PTS1 and terminal signals to support analyses of peroxisomal import and membrane association.
• Functional and interaction inference: Use of predicted modification and targeting signals to inform studies of protein function, signaling pathways, and disease mechanisms.

Methodology:

Predictions are based on quantifying physical conditions necessary for productive binding between proteins and the relevant enzyme complexes, using short compositionally biased N- or C-terminal regions, identifying significant interpositional correlations in sequence signals, and incorporating taxon-specific variations arising from divergent evolution of active complexes.