LITTLE KEVIN - A PROGRAM FOR THE ESTIMATION OF PROTEIN HOMOLOGY BY ANALYZING THE AMINO-ACID COMPOSITIONS AND SEQUENCES

We present here a computational method based on the analysis of amino acid composition for performing comparisons between proteins. This use r-friendly and reliable rest is aimed at rapidly identifying, from dat a-base subsets, sequences-if necessary, partial sequences-which share similar amino acid compositions to the input composition (deduced from experimental results). Apparent molecular weight (as determined by SD S-PAGE) and artefactual modifications due to the experimental determin ation of the amino acid composition are taken into account to perform the comparison. This program thus constitutes a useful tool in searchi ng for the probable identification of either non-sequenced proteins or peptides from hydrolysed proteins.