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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The DSSP algorithm is the standard method for assigning secondary structure to the amino acids of a protein, given the atomic-resolution coordinates of the protein. The abbreviation is only mentioned once in the 1983 paper describing this algorithm,[2] where it is the name of the Pascal program that implements the algorithm Define Secondary Structure of Proteins.
Original author(s) | Wolfgang Kabsch, Chris Sander |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Maarten Hekkelman[1] |
Initial release | 1983 |
Stable release | 4.4
/ 19 July 2023 |
Repository | github |
Written in | C++ |
Operating system | Linux, Windows |
License | BSD-2-clause license |
Website | pdb-redo |
DSSP begins by identifying the intra-backbone hydrogen bonds of the protein using a purely electrostatic definition, assuming partial charges of −0.42 e and +0.20 e to the carbonyl oxygen and amide hydrogen respectively, their opposites assigned to the carbonyl carbon and amide nitrogen. A hydrogen bond is identified if E in the following equation is less than -0.5 kcal/mol:
where the terms indicate the distance between atoms A and B, taken from the carbon (C) and oxygen (O) atoms of the C=O group and the nitrogen (N) and hydrogen (H) atoms of the N-H group.
Based on this, nine types of secondary structure are assigned. The 310 helix, α helix and π helix have symbols G, H and I and are recognized by having a repetitive sequence of hydrogen bonds in which the residues are three, four, or five residues apart respectively. Two types of beta sheet structures exist; a beta bridge has symbol B while longer sets of hydrogen bonds and beta bulges have symbol E. T is used for turns, featuring hydrogen bonds typical of helices, S is used for regions of high curvature (where the angle between and is at least 70°). As of DSSP version 4, PPII helices are also detected based on a combination of backbone torsion angles and the absence of hydrogen bonds compatible with other types. PPII helices have symbol P. A blank (or space) is used if no other rule applies, referring to loops.[3] These eight types are usually grouped into three larger classes: helix (G, H and I), strand (E and B) and loop (S, T, and C, where C sometimes is represented also as blank space).
In the original DSSP algorithm, residues were preferentially assigned to α helices, rather than π helices. In 2011, it was shown that DSSP failed to annotate many "cryptic" π helices, which are commonly flanked by α helices.[4] In 2012, DSSP was rewritten so that the assignment of π helices was given preference over α helices, resulting in better detection of π helices.[3] Versions of DSSP from 2.1.0 onwards therefore produce slightly different output from older versions.
In 2002, a continuous DSSP assignment was developed by introducing multiple hydrogen bond thresholds, where the new assignment was found to correlate with protein motion.[5]
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