5
$\begingroup$

I have given an input of this protein sequence:

MEPVDPRLEPWKHPGSQPKTACTTCYCKKCCFHCQVCFTTKALGISYGRKKRRQRRRPPQGSQTHQVSLSKQPTSQPRGDPTGPKE

from this website along with the option of COBEpro. Now the output sent by this site to my email is as follows:

Name: temp_prot

Amino Acids:
MEPVDPRLEPWKHPGSQPKTACTTCYCKKCCFHCQVCFTTKALGISYGRKKRRQRRRPPQGSQTHQVSLSKQPTSQPRGDPTGPKE

Predicted Continuous B-cell Epitopes:

MOST LIKELY EPITOPES:

0.82848577 39 TKALGIS CCCCCEE eee-e-e

0.82036375 39 TKALGI CCCCCE eee-e-

0.76503265 38 TTKALGI ECCCCCE eeee-e-

0.73178638 73 TSQPRGDP CCCCCCCC -eeeeeee

…

and a few more. Now can you tell me, if I consider the very first result, I was able to find TKALGIS in the parent sequence but could not find CCCCCEE. What is this CCCCCEE? And what does this eee-e-e mean?

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ have you tried other software to verify? $\endgroup$
    – AliceD ♦
    Feb 3, 2015 at 12:19

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
10
$\begingroup$

CCCEEE etc. are the secondary structural elements. In this case, the C refers to non-strand and non-helix regions i.e loop regions rather than a coiled region. The C or E usually refers to whether the residue is coiled (C) or part of a strand (E). H would be used to denote a helix, however, in the question, it appears that there are no helices. These letters are often different in different software: it's merely a point of semantics between different software.

e or - refers to if the amino acid at that position is exposed or not (- = buried).

For the method, here is the COBEpro paper, although it does seem very technical. The help page has more easily accessible information on the output.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ And how is the predicted antigenic propensity score plotted? $\endgroup$
    – girl101
    Feb 4, 2015 at 8:03
  • $\begingroup$ I'm not sure what you mean. Perhaps open a new question. $\endgroup$
    – James
    Feb 4, 2015 at 11:01

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .