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Zinc finger DNA binding domain/protein

| posted 19 Oct, 2017 19:36
We have a gene in our C1 phage with many hits to a zinc-finger DNA binding domain/protein in PhagesDB BLAST and NCBI BLAST. We used HHPred and got several hits to zinc finger proteins with probabilities above 95. Is this a function we can use?
| posted 26 Oct, 2017 14:44
Hi!
In order to add a new function to the official list, you need to present more of a case than "I found a domain match".

By more of a case I mean:
How large are known proteins of this type? Is the size of the protein you are investigating of similar size?
Are there conserved residues that are characteristic of this domain? Does your protein have them?
Are there normally other conserved domain present in conjunction with this domain? Does your protein have them?

In general, we don't like to put structural domains down as functional assignments, as too many proteins with a variety of functions can include them. However, if you are positive that your zinc-finger is DNA binding, then we can consider adding it if you have pursued the rest of the background.

Best,
Welkin
 
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