Title

BEID: Database for sequence-structure-function information on antigen-antibody interactions

Authors

Joo Chuan Tong^1,*, Chun Meng Song¹, Paul Thiam Joo Tan², Ee Chee Ren^{3, 4}, Animesh A. Sinha⁵

Affiliation

¹Institute for Infocomm Research, 1 Fusionopolis Way, #21-01 Connexis, South Tower, Singapore 138632; ²Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, John Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; ³Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117597; ⁴Singapore Immunology Network, 60 Biopolis Street, Genome, #02-01, Singapore 138672; ⁵Center for Investigative Dermatology, Division of Dermatology and Cutaneous Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

Email

jctong@i2r.a-star.edu.sg; *Corresponding Author

+65 6408 2156

Article Type

Database

Date

received September 18, 2008, accepted September 21, 2008; published October 13, 2008

Abstract

The B-cell Epitope Interaction Database (BEID; http://datam.i2r.a-star.edu.sg/BEID) is an open-access database describing sequence-structure-function information on immunoglobulin (Ig)-antigen interactions. The current version of the database contains 164 antigens, 126 Ig and 189 Ig-antigen complexes extracted from the Protein Data Bank (PDB). Each entry is manually verified, classified, and analyzed for intermolecular interactions between antigens and the corresponding bound Ig molecules. Ig-antigen interaction information that is stored in BEID includes solvent accessibility, hydrogen bonds, non-hydrogen bonds, gap volume, gap index, interface area and contact residues. The database can be searched with a user-friendly search tool and schematic diagrams for Ig-antigen interactions are available for download in PDF format. The ultimate purpose of BEID is to enhance the understanding of the rules of engagement between antigen and the corresponding bound Ig molecules. It is also a precious data source for developing computational predictors for B-cell epitopes.

Keywords

database; epitope; antigen; antibody; sequence-structure function

Citation

Tong et al., Bioinformation 3(1): 58-60 (2008)

Edited by

P. Kangueane

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.