ABSTRACT
Modern methods of drug discovery and development in recent years make a wide use of computational algorithms. These methods utilise Virtual Screening (VS), which is the computational counterpart of experimental screening. In this manner the in silico models and tools initial replace the wet lab methods saving time and resources. This paper presents the overall design and implementation of a web based scientific workflow system for virtual screening called, the Life Sciences Informatics (LiSIs) platform. The LiSIs platform consists of the following layers: the input layer covering the data file input; the pre-processing layer covering the descriptors calculation, and the docking preparation components; the processing layer covering the attribute filtering, compound similarity, substructure matching, docking prediction, predictive modelling and molecular clustering; post-processing layer covering the output reformatting and binary file merging components; output layer covering the storage component. The potential of LiSIs platform has been demonstrated through two case studies designed to illustrate the preparation of tools for the identification of promising chemical structures. The first case study involved the development of a Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship (QSAR) model on a literature dataset while the second case study implemented a docking-based virtual screening experiment. Our results show that VS workflows utilizing docking, predictive models and other in silico tools as implemented in the LiSIs platform can identify compounds in line with expert expectations. We anticipate that the deployment of LiSIs, as currently implemented and available for use, can enable drug discovery researchers to more easily use state of the art computational techniques in their search for promising chemical compounds. The LiSIs platform is freely accessible (i) under the GRANATUM platform at: http://www.granatum.org and (ii) directly at: http://lisis.cs.ucy.ac.cy.
Subject(s)
High-Throughput Screening Assays , Internet , Medical Informatics , Algorithms , Biological Science Disciplines , Quantitative Structure-Activity RelationshipABSTRACT
MOTIVATION: Local compositionally biased and low complexity regions (LCRs) in amino acid sequences have initially attracted the interest of researchers due to their implication in generating artifacts in sequence database searches. There is accumulating evidence of the biological significance of LCRs both in physiological and in pathological situations. Nonetheless, LCR-related algorithms and tools have not gained wide appreciation across the research community, partly due to the fact that only a handful of user-friendly software is currently freely available. RESULTS: We developed LCR-eXXXplorer, an extensible online platform attempting to fill this gap. LCR-eXXXplorer offers tools for displaying LCRs from the UniProt/SwissProt knowledgebase, in combination with other relevant protein features, predicted or experimentally verified. Moreover, users may perform powerful queries against a custom designed sequence/LCR-centric database. We anticipate that LCR-eXXXplorer will be a useful starting point in research efforts for the elucidation of the structure, function and evolution of proteins with LCRs. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: LCR-eXXXplorer is freely available at the URL http://repeat.biol.ucy.ac.cy/lcr-exxxplorer. CONTACT: vprobon@ucy.ac.cy SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Subject(s)
Algorithms , Computer Graphics , Databases, Protein , Internet , Proteins/chemistry , Sequence Analysis, Protein/methods , Software , HumansABSTRACT
Variation in vectorial capacity for human malaria among Anopheles mosquito species is determined by many factors, including behavior, immunity, and life history. To investigate the genomic basis of vectorial capacity and explore new avenues for vector control, we sequenced the genomes of 16 anopheline mosquito species from diverse locations spanning ~100 million years of evolution. Comparative analyses show faster rates of gene gain and loss, elevated gene shuffling on the X chromosome, and more intron losses, relative to Drosophila. Some determinants of vectorial capacity, such as chemosensory genes, do not show elevated turnover but instead diversify through protein-sequence changes. This dynamism of anopheline genes and genomes may contribute to their flexible capacity to take advantage of new ecological niches, including adapting to humans as primary hosts.
Subject(s)
Anopheles/genetics , Evolution, Molecular , Genome, Insect , Insect Vectors/genetics , Malaria/transmission , Animals , Anopheles/classification , Base Sequence , Chromosomes, Insect/genetics , Drosophila/genetics , Humans , Insect Vectors/classification , Molecular Sequence Data , Phylogeny , Sequence AlignmentABSTRACT
The use of GPGPU programming paradigm (running CUDA-enabled algorithms on GPU cards) in Bioinformatics showed promising results [1]. As such a similar approach can be used to speedup other algorithms such as CAST, a popular tool used for masking low-complexity regions (LCRs) in protein sequences [2] with increased sensitivity. We developed and implemented a CUDA-enabled version (GPU_CAST) of the multi-threaded version of CAST software first presented in [3] and optimized in [4]. The proposed software implementation uses the nVIDIA CUDA libraries and the GPGPU programming paradigm to take advantage of the inherent parallel characteristics of the CAST algorithm to execute the calculations on the GPU card of the host computer system. The GPU-based implementation presented in this work, is compared against the multi-threaded, multi-core optimized version of CAST [4] and yielded speedups of 5x-10x for large protein sequence datasets.
