Evidence map›Paper›PMID 11790254›Full record

ArticleGenome biology2001

Quod erat demonstrandum? The mystery of experimental validation of apparently erroneous computational analyses of protein sequences.

L M Iyer, L Aravind, P Bork, K Hofmann, A R Mushegian, I B Zhulin, E V Koonin

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Genome biology, 2001. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
21citing papers in PubMed
3.2field-weighted citation impact, top 7% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

21 citing papers in PubMed, 73 citations in OpenAlex.

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  11. Bacteria as computers making computers.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2009
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  12. It is computation time for bacteriology!Journal of bacteriology · 2009
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  13. Dark matter in a deep-sea vent and in human mouth.Environmental microbiology · 2007
    Article
  14. Effective function annotation through catalytic residue conservation.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2005
    Article
  15. Article
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  18. Review
  19. Article
  20. The complete genome of hyperthermophile Methanopyrus kandleri AV19 and monophyly of archaeal methanogens.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2002
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.

L M IyerNational Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA.
L Aravind
P Bork
K Hofmann
A R Mushegian
I B Zhulin
E V Koonin
National Institutes of Health · USEuropean Molecular Biology Organization · DEGeorgia Institute of Technology · USNational Center for Biotechnology Information · USStowers Institute for Medical Research · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundComputational predictions are critical for directing the experimental study of protein functions. Therefore it is paradoxical when an apparently erroneous computational prediction seems to be supported by experiment.

resultsWe analyzed six cases where application of novel or conventional computational methods for protein sequence and structure analysis led to non-trivial predictions that were subsequently supported by direct experiments. We show that, on all six occasions, the original prediction was unjustified, and in at least three cases, an alternative, well-supported computational prediction, incompatible with the original one, could be derived. The most unusual cases involved the identification of an archaeal cysteinyl-tRNA synthetase, a dihydropteroate synthase and a thymidylate synthase, for which experimental verifications of apparently erroneous computational predictions were reported. Using sequence-profile analysis, multiple alignment and secondary-structure prediction, we have identified the unique archaeal 'cysteinyl-tRNA synthetase' as a homolog of extracellular polygalactosaminidases, and the 'dihydropteroate synthase' as a member of the beta-lactamase-like superfamily of metal-dependent hydrolases.

conclusionsIn each of the analyzed cases, the original computational predictions could be refuted and, in some instances, alternative strongly supported predictions were obtained. The nature of the experimental evidence that appears to support these predictions remains an open question. Some of these experiments might signify discovery of extremely unusual forms of the respective enzymes, whereas the results of others could be due to artifacts.

Indexed as

Arabidopsis ProteinsComputational BiologySaccharomyces cerevisiae ProteinsSequence Analysis, ProteinAcetyltransferasesActivating Transcription Factor 2Amino Acid SequenceAmino Acyl-tRNA SynthetasesArchaeal ProteinsArtifactsBasic Helix-Loop-Helix ProteinsCyclic AMP Response Element-Binding ProteinDihydropteroate SynthaseForecastingHistone AcetyltransferasesHumansAcetyltransferasesActivating Transcription Factor 2Amino Acyl-tRNA SynthetasesArabidopsis ProteinsArchaeal ProteinsBasic Helix-Loop-Helix ProteinsCyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Proteincysteinyl-tRNA synthetaseDihydropteroate SynthaseHistone AcetyltransferasesPhytochromePIF3 protein, ArabidopsisPlant ProteinsPlant Viral Movement ProteinsProteinsSaccharomyces cerevisiae ProteinsThymidylate SynthaseTranscription FactorsViral Proteins

Identifiers

PMID11790254
PMCPMC64836
OpenAlexW2109030836

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.