%0 Journal Article
%T Functional Equivalency Inferred from ˇ°Authoritative Sourcesˇ± in Networks of Homologous Proteins
%A Shreedhar Natarajan
%A Eric Jakobsson
%J PLOS ONE
%D 2009
%I Public Library of Science (PLoS)
%R 10.1371/journal.pone.0005898
%X A one-on-one mapping of protein functionality across different species is a critical component of comparative analysis. This paper presents a heuristic algorithm for discovering the Most Likely Functional Counterparts (MoLFunCs) of a protein, based on simple concepts from network theory. A key feature of our algorithm is utilization of the user's knowledge to assign high confidence to selected functional identification. We show use of the algorithm to retrieve functional equivalents for 7 membrane proteins, from an exploration of almost 40 genomes form multiple online resources. We verify the functional equivalency of our dataset through a series of tests that include sequence, structure and function comparisons. Comparison is made to the OMA methodology, which also identifies one-on-one mapping between proteins from different species. Based on that comparison, we believe that incorporation of user's knowledge as a key aspect of the technique adds value to purely statistical formal methods.
%U http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0005898