TranScout: prediction of gene expression regulatory proteins from their sequences

Motivation: The advent of genomics yields thousands of reading frames in search of function. Identification of conserved functional motifs in protein sequences can be helpful for function prediction. Results: A database and a classification of reported DNA-binding protein motifs has been designed. A program ('TranScout') has been developed for the detection and evaluation of conserved motifs in prokaryotic and eukaryotic sequences of proteins with a gene regulatory function. The efficiency of the program is shown in a benchmark against a database obtained from SWISS-PROT without the protein sequences used to train the program. All motifs were detected with a mean average sensitivity of 0.98 and a mean average specificity of 0.92. Availability: The program is freely available for use on the internet at http://luz.uab.es/transcout/. The user can find additional information at this site. Contact: Enric.Querol@uab.es; boliva@imim.es.