Title: LCRs in diseases: analysis of human hypothetical proteins

Authors: N. Rathankar, Vaibhav Asthana, Tapan Pancholi, K.A. Nirmala, H.G. Nagendra

Addresses: Department of Bioinformatics, School of Bioengineering, SRM University, Kattankulathur – 603 203 Kanchipuram District, Tamil Nadu, India. ' Department of Bioinformatics, School of Biological Sciences, VIT University, Vellore, Tamilnadu – 632 014, India. ' Department of Bioinformatics, School of Biological Sciences, VIT University, Vellore, Tamilnadu – 632 014, India. ' Department of Physics, Jnanabharathi Campus, Bangalore University, Bangalore 560 056, India. ' Department of Biotechnology, Sir M. Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology, Near Hunsamaranahalli, Via Yelahanka, Bangalore 562 157, India

Abstract: Low complexity regions (LCRs) in proteins are sequences containing regular repeats, cryptic repeats and single amino acid repetitions, recognised by their compositional bias. These sequences are structurally disordered, and are found to participate in signalling and post-translational modifications, mediating protein-protein and protein-RNA interactions. Apart from their normal roles, LCRs are observed in diseased proteins as well. Presence of LCRs in proteins sequences also reduces the certainty to decipher their possible functions, thereby classifying them as |hypothetical proteins|. An insilico attempt has been carried out to investigate these LCRs in hypothetical proteins from human genome to establish their relationships with diseases.

Keywords: low complexity regions; LCR; human hypothetical proteins; diseases; drug targets; protein sequences; human genome.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMEI.2011.041234

International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics, 2011 Vol.3 No.2, pp.130 - 143

Published online: 28 Feb 2015 *

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