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All posts created by cdshaffer

| posted 23 Jan, 2021 19:33
When it comes to enzyme naming issues I prefer the KEGG and exapasy "Enzyme" databases. For example here is the info on this enzyme at Expasy:

https://enzyme.expasy.org/EC/2.7.6.1

The preferred name is Ribose-phosphate diphosphokinase, so they agree with your preference for "kinase". I also note that one of the mentioned synonyms also uses kinase. I have always been pretty agnostic on which term we should put on our approved function list but once it is there I think it makes all our work better if we all try to use that particular term as it creates a more consistent data set across all the SEA phages.

phosphoribosyl transferase appears to be a general term as it hits to about 25 different enzymes in the Expasy database, the vast marjority of which are glycosyltransferases.
Posted in: Functional AnnotationPhosporibosylpyrophosphate synthetase
| posted 15 Dec, 2020 21:05
ok release of starterator reports for database version 387 are now available and are tagged as the current version. Links from pecaan and phagesdb should now be working (at least until the next database update). Please report if any links fail at this point.
Posted in: StarteratorRead First: Common Starterator Troubleshooting
| posted 15 Dec, 2020 18:00
OK this appears to be an out of sync error. The current version of the database is 387. The starterator analysis to create the 14 thousand or so reports is on going so the web pages still report the old version 386. The computations should complete and be posted by the end of the day at which point the links from pecaan and phagesdb should work.

In the mean time you can use these links to get to the reports for those three genes in the older 386 database reports here:

Peel 30: old pham number 44662 and link http://phages.wustl.edu/386/Pham44662Report.pdf
Peel 32:old pham number 44868 and link http://phages.wustl.edu/386/Pham44868Report.pdf
Peel 33:old pham number 44899 and link http://phages.wustl.edu/386/Pham44899Report.pdf

There is a way to check if the "out of sync" error is likely to be the cause of these types of missing phams by comparing the reported database versions. This link will always show the current version number on the Starterator server. Alternatively, you can look on any starterator report where you will see something like this: "This analysis was run 12/09/20 on database version 386" near the top of the first page of text.

In pecaan you can go to the Pham Maps page and look just above the map where you will see something like this: Phamerator Version: 387 . Unfortunately there is no easy way to get the version number of the database at phagesdb but you can always check this link to see which version is on the database server, all the programs download from there.
Edited 15 Dec, 2020 20:47
Posted in: StarteratorRead First: Common Starterator Troubleshooting
| posted 15 Dec, 2020 16:52
These are typically due to database at phagesdb being out of sync with the current database for the starterator reports but this should not be happening "for weeks".

Are you using pecaan or phagesdb for your links? Could you post the pham numbers you are looking for?
Posted in: StarteratorRead First: Common Starterator Troubleshooting
| posted 10 Dec, 2020 18:58
Ok, those look pretty good. I now suspect our issue might have been with the age/storage of the grids. Thanks
Posted in: Phage Discovery/IsolationElectron Microscopes
| posted 10 Dec, 2020 16:45
Our dept purchased an SEM with a TEM detector a couple of years ago. We tried several times but were never able to get sufficient resolution to see phage on the grid. To be fair, we were just testing older grids that had been returned after imaging at the EM core so fresh grids might have given us viable images; but it really looked like we were never going to get the resolution we needed to see things as small as phage. If you can get it to work please post your protocols we would be very interested, it would open up some interesting curriculum opportunities.

Sorry I don't know any of the specifics on our system but I could ask our microscope facility if you want the specifics.
Edited 10 Dec, 2020 16:49
Posted in: Phage Discovery/IsolationElectron Microscopes
| posted 09 Dec, 2020 22:55
For those of you using Phamerator and Starterator in the SEA VM:
The Hatfull lab has been doing some much needed updates to the underlying phamerator database and at the same time has moved all the databases to a new server. The combination of these two events means that the SEA VM version of phamerator and starterator will no longer be able to update to new databases as they are released. These programs will continue to work "as is" but the databases they have now will become increasingly out of date as new phage are added and pham assignments invariable change.

The production version of starterator has been updated and the web based PDF's are up to date with the new database. Users of the web pages should be on the lookout for any discrepancies or possible errors, I have tested many pages but cannot screen all 14,000 or so pham reports so it is possible that some unusual set of circumstances could result in errors in the Starterator reports. If you find anything of concern please report to this forum or send me an email directly.

Finally, I am looking for a few volunteer testers to work with me on testing the new beta version of Starterator in their VM. Send me an email if you would like to help in this regard. Thanks.
Edited 09 Dec, 2020 22:59
Posted in: StarteratorPhamerator databases in the VM will break as of Dec 10
| posted 07 Dec, 2020 19:10
Thanks for posting this. I have added a note on the issues tracker for Starterator here:

https://github.com/SEA-PHAGES/starterator/issues/42

Hopefully once the end of the semester grading bonanza ends I can update starterator to handle the new default Genome profile format created by DNA Master.
Posted in: StarteratorNew DNA Master Genome Profile Column and Starterator 1.2
| posted 25 Nov, 2020 00:26
These issues of specificity are always difficult to annotate. I agree with Debbie in that I tend to "do no harm"; that is, I would annotate using the more general "protease" unless there is good evidence for the more specific term.

To answer the question of function at this level you would have to dig into the published literature on the matching crystals and see if they describe the active site in detail. If you are lucky you can find enough detail as to exactly which bonds are involved in the reaction and which side chains are critical in the active site. If you can get that, then you could see if your protein is likely to create that same active site using 3D modeling and visualization tools. This is well beyond what I ask students to do in general but we ask students to investigate one gene "in depth" and this would be a really good candidate gene for this kind of detailed investigation. The likelihood of success is low, and I tell my students that up front, as they have to be lucky enough that the information they are looking for is actually in the published literature. But as a teacher I am fine with students trying as it is really about the journey not the destination.
Edited 25 Nov, 2020 00:29
Posted in: Functional AnnotationMetalloprotease or metallopeptidase
| posted 18 Nov, 2020 23:42
In phage Belfort CDS 134(87,804-88,487) has a large number of high quality hits to NAD-Dependent Deacetylase. There are approx 50 HHPRED hits with 100% probability and >99% aligned. The vast majority of the top hits include the term "sirtuin" a group of enzymes found in all kingdoms. However, of the 100% probability alignments more than half include the term "NAD-Dependent Deacetylase". The top prokaryote hit is to crystal 1S5P_A, an enzyme from Escherichia coli (100% probability and 99.5% coverage) and has the description "NAD-dependent deacetylase (E.C.3.5.1.-); protein deacetylase". We propose either the term "NAD-dependent deacetylase" or "NAD-dependent protein deacetylase" and avoid the whole "sirtuin" nomenclature.

If you want to see all the hits, this phage is in PECAAN (Belfort 134). For detailed alignments here is the amino acid sequence to rerun the HHPRED search:


>Belfort_cds_134
MVKVLFVTGAGISANAGIPTYRDGGSSWKDADLEKKSHASRYGNHLDELWDKHWGPVAKAMGQAEPTQTHRAIAEF
QKDNPSIVATQNIDDLHERAGSDNVAHVHGSMVIKCIRCKRSHLETKWFGKGAPVCPHCGKSKTRPDVVLFGEKLD
LKMFAALESFAKHDADVIVAVGTSLNVFPAAGLVMDNIAKSVIINKEKTPFDKFACKVYNDDCDSVIDEVLGGLN
Posted in: Request a new function on the SEA-PHAGES official listNAD-dependent deacetylase