SATCHMO-JS: a webserver for simultaneous protein multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetic tree construction.

We present the jump-start simultaneous alignment and tree construction using hidden Markov models (SATCHMO-JS) web server for simultaneous estimation of protein multiple sequence alignments (MSAs) and phylogenetic trees. The server takes as input a set of sequences in FASTA format, and outputs a phylogenetic tree and MSA; these can be viewed online or downloaded from the website. SATCHMO-JS is an extension of the SATCHMO algorithm, and employs a divide-and-conquer strategy to jump-start SATCHMO at a higher point in the phylogenetic tree, reducing the computational complexity of the progressive all-versus-all HMM-HMM scoring and alignment.

Genome sequencing of recent clinical Chlamydia trachomatis strains identifies loci associated with tissue tropism and regions of apparent recombination.

The human pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis exists as multiple serovariants that have distinct organotropisms for different tissue sites. Culture and epidemiologic data have demonstrated that serovar G is more prevalent, while serovar E is less prevalent, for rectal isolates from men having sex with men (MSM). The relative prevalence of these serovars is the opposite for isolates from female cervical infections.

Protein Geometry Database: a flexible engine to explore backbone conformations and their relationships to covalent geometry.

The backbone bond lengths, bond angles, and planarity of a protein are influenced by the backbone conformation (varphi,Psi), but no tool exists to explore these relationships, leaving this area as a reservoir of untapped information about protein structure and function. The Protein Geometry Database (PGD) enables biologists to easily and flexibly query information about the conformation alone, the backbone geometry alone, and the relationships between them. The capabilities the PGD provides are valuable for assessing the uniqueness of observed conformational or geometric features in protein structure as well as discovering novel features and principles of protein structure.