Georg Casari's models

A picture

Procedure

Ls,
In this area you will find two models. The first model was made by Georg Casari in 1989, using the alignment that is given in the article. The second model was made using an alternative alignment that Georg and I came up with in 1997...
The old model was refined and energy minimised (in vacuum, using GROMOS).
We used WHAT IF to automatically build the second model. If you are interested, you can get some information about the methods used to build the second model.

Remarks

With the percentage identity as present in this case, it is not possible to build models with any reliability, unless there is a considerable body of experimental knowledge available. This was the case, and teh original model built (not given here) was only constructed (with 1989 state of the art software...) to indicate that the detected homology would not be incompatible with a 3D structure.
There is, however, no need saying that we have not yet found the correct alignment. Many residues are not put in the model at all, and those that are there are not always modelled equally well. However, the active site seems perfect, and several other aspects of the model agree really well with experimental data.
So, although from a technical point of view both models are shitty, they are good enough to suggest experiments, and even good enough to answer a few biologically relevant questions.

Models

Quality

Before looking at the model quality, please keep in mind that: The reports:
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GV, Last modified Aug 24, 1997