WoLF PSORT: protein localization predictor

Abstract

WoLF PSORT is an extension of the PSORT II program for protein subcellular location prediction. WoLF PSORT converts protein amino acid sequences into numerical localization features; based on sorting signals, amino acid composition and functional motifs such as DNA-binding motifs. After conversion, a simple k-nearest neighbor classifier is used for prediction. Using html, the evidence for each prediction is shown in two ways: (i) a list of proteins of known localization with the most similar localization features to the query, and (ii) tables with detailed information about individual localization features. For convenience, sequence alignments of the query to similar proteins and links to UniProt and Gene Ontology are provided. Taken together, this information allows a user to understand the evidence (or lack thereof) behind the predictions made for particular proteins. WoLF PSORT is available at wolfpsort.org.

Figure 1.

Part of the list of proteins similar to the query protein, an isoform of TCOF_HUMAN, is shown. For each neighbor the following is shown: UniProt ID, localization site, the distance in localization features from the query, the percent identity to the query, a link to its UniProt entry, the subcellular localization line from UniProt and other available localization information.

Figure 2.

The localization features for the query and its neighbors are shown. The values are normalized to percentiles relative to the WoLF PSORT training data. Neighbor values shown in blue are within 10% points to the query value, while those shown in red are 20 or more percentile point different from the query.