Cited by 358Protein Structure and DynamicsEnzyme Structure and FunctionBiochemical and Structural Characterization

SOCKET: a program for identifying and analysing coiled-coil motifs within protein structures11Edited by J. Thornton

Walshaw, John, Woolfson, Derek N·2001·Journal of Molecular Biology

Abstract

The coiled coil is arguably the simplest protein-structure motif and probably the most ubiquitous facilitator of protein-protein interactions. Coiled coils comprise two or more alpha-helices that wind around each other to form "supercoils". The hallmark of most coiled coils is a regular sequence pattern known as the heptad repeat. Despite this apparent simplicity and relatedness at the sequence level, coiled coils display a considerable degree of structural diversity: the helices may be arranged parallel or anti-parallel and may form a variety of oligomer states. To aid studies of coiled coils, we developed SOCKET, a computer program to identify these motifs automatically in protein structures. We used SOCKET to gather a set of unambiguous coiled-coil structures from the RCSB Protein Data Bank. Rather than searching for sequence features, the algorithm recognises the characteristic knobs-into-holes side-chain packing of coiled coils; this proved to be straightforward to implement and was able to distinguish coiled coils from the great majority of helix-helix packing arrangements observed in globular domains. SOCKET unambiguously defines coiled-coil helix boundaries, oligomerisation states and helix orientations, and also assigns heptad registers. Structures retrieved from the Protein Data Bank included parallel and anti-parallel variants of two, three and four-stranded coiled coils, one example of a parallel pentamer and a small number of structures that extend the classical description of a coiled coil. We anticipate that our structural database and the associated sequence data that we have gathered will be of use in identifying principles for coiled-coil assembly, prediction and design. To illustrate this we give examples of sequence and structural analyses of the structures that are possible using the new data bases, and we present amino acid profiles for the heptad repeats of different motifs.

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Crossref · 10.1006/jmbi.2001.4545

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Authors
Walshaw, J., & Woolfson, D. N.
Affiliations
University of Sussex (GB)
Corresponding author
Woolfson, Derek N
Venue
Journal of Molecular Biology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2001-04
Volume
307
Issue
5
Pages
1427-1450
ISSN
0022-2836 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2032155561
Cited by
357
References
100
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 20
Type
book review
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Journal of Molecular Biology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Explore Bristol Research (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protein Structure and Dynamics
  • Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Enzyme Structure and Function
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Biochemical and Structural Characterization
Keywords
coiled-coil domain, protein structure analysis, heptad repeat, helix orientation, protein-protein interaction, amino acid composition
MeSH terms
Algorithms, Amino Acid Sequence, Amino Acids, Binding Sites, DNA-Binding Proteins, Fungal Proteins, Models, Molecular, Protein Binding, Protein Kinases, Proteins, Software, Structure-Activity Relationship, Leucine Zippers, Protein Structure, Tertiary, Dimerization, Computational Biology, Databases as Topic, Internet, Amino Acid Motifs, Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins

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